A Texas based think tank that studies local government has investigated
San Antonio's plan to aggressively annex five fast growing neighborhoods
containing some 133,000 people and has concluded it is a 'recipe for
disaster,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
James Quintero,
director of the Center for Local Governance, a unit of the Texas Public
Policy Foundation, says the city is ill equipped to handle the
population and area it has now, and adding that much more territory
would lead to disaster for existing and new residents.
"When
you add that much area for police officers to patrol without significant
increases in public safety spending, that is a recipe for disaster,"
Quintero told News Radio 1200 WOAI.
Indeed, these very concerns
are crippling support for the annexation effort at City Hall. Council
members Joe Krier and Ron Nirenberg, whose districts would have to
absorb many of the new residents coming into San Antonio, have both
called for the proposal to at least be delayed. Mayor Ivy Taylor says
the city should back off, and consider annexing commercial but not
residential property.
Quintero also said he balks at claims by
city staffers that people who live outside the city are 'freeloaders'
who use city services without paying for them in property taxes.
"When they come into the city they spend money which is collected in
the form of sales tax revenue which helps the city grow substantially,"
he said. "These people are far from freeloaders, but they are
contributing to the size and scope of government."
Quintero and
other analysts have also pointed out that just 10 months ago, in
December of 2014, City Council was forced to cut some $10 million from
the city budget for basic street repair and maintenance, because the
city couldn't afford to provide basic services to its existing
residents. It is disingenuous, they say, for the city now to say it can
suddenly afford to pay for services for 133,000 more people.
The city's aggressive annexation efforts are also making other urban
areas in Texas nervous. Several members of the Legislature say San
Antonio is the 'poster child' for irresponsible annexation policy, and
predict the city's aggressive plan will held secure enough votes in the
2017 session for a bill which narrowly failed earlier this year, which
would ban annexation without the consent of the people to be annexed.
Quintero says the basic problem with San Antonio's annexation plan is
it runs contrary to protection of property rights, which all governments
are bound to respect.
"Where annexation fails is that it fundamentally violates people's private property rights," he said.
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