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Northlake annexation proposal fails |
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Wednesday, 15 October 2008 |
The Northlake annexation issue became a competition between Benton and Bryant.
An overwhelming majority of voters decided in a special election Tuesday at the Northlake area of Saline County will not become part of the city of Benton.
Turnout was low at 4 percent, but 66 percent of the people casting ballots voted against the annexation, while 34 percent voted in favor of the measure.
The vote was 519 against and 263 for annexation.
Both claimed territorial jurisdiction over the area.
Another vote is scheduled in the Nov. 4 general election. This time, Northlake and Bryant residents will vote on whether Bryant will annex the area.
Charlotte Roberts, who lives on Samples Road, said she moved from Little Rock about a year ago to live in the country. She said she is pleased with the special election results.
“Like everybody else, we wanted to stay in the county. We worked very, very hard to defeat Benton,” Roberts said. “We held signs on Congo Road and other places and near the polls. Now, we have to work really, really hard to defeat Bryant.”
Roberts said she and others think they won’t gain anything by being annexed into Benton or Bryant. “We’re not gonna get anything except higher taxes,” she said. “We just want to be left alone.”
She added, “We don’t have anything against the cities, we just want to be in the county.”
Larry Szurgot, who lives in the Salem area, wasn’t directly affected by this vote, but he said he is pleased with the results because “a lot of those people are my friends out there. I live in the Salem area and like them, if we wanted to live in the city, we’d move to the city. We have no immediate desire for their services.”
Benton Mayor Rick Holland said the city was “at a disadvantage on the vote because it was a special election. We tried to get the word out to people to get out and vote but it was hard to do.”
“When Bryant votes Nov. 4, everyone will be there to vote in the presidential election and city and county races and as such, they’re more likely to get more votes.”
Benton originally planned a special election for Aug. 12 for the Northlake area, which included a large portion of the Salem community, the mayor noted.
“After we set that election, Bryant set a special election in September to annex with the Northlake area, which was part of the area we were trying to annex,” Holland said.
“When Salem residents objected, we dropped our Aug. 12 special election, but since Bryant then was going to have an election in September for the Northlake area, which we needed for a water tower, we had to come back within 30 days for a special election to annex that area.”
However, after Benton rescheduled its special election, Bryant then changed its special election to the general election.
Holland said the city decided to keep the October special election date because “we didn’t want to change our special election again.”
Benton will have another annexation issue on the Nov. 4 ballot. The proposed annexation is for many businesses along Interstate 30 and Arkansas 5, Holland said.
“Most people think those areas are already in the city,” he said. “The three areas include where Landers Hummer is located, the area where Riverside Grocery is located and Highway 5 North where Salem Road intersects.”
He added, “We’re already providing services to these places, but we’re not receiving sales tax to go toward police and fire and city services.”
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Razorbacks
