CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas —
Annexation requests from London Ranch Estates, Charlotte Estates and a four mile stretch of County Road 22 out in the London area will be up for discussion at Tuesday's city council meeting.
District 5 councilman, Gil Hernandez said that because of state law, the city cannot annex land themselves. Now, annexation must be requested from property owners. He also said there are many advantages that come with living within the limits.
"You have fire protection, solid waste from the city and obviously police protection as well," he said.
Although, those protections don't come without paying a little over 59 cents for every $100 valuation in property tax.
The London area is growing, but most of it is not within the city limits. That, in turn, makes London residents contract out for services that would typically be covered by the city.
Until a couple of years ago, Hernandez said the city did not have a way to recoup costs from sending the fire department to properties that were just outside city limits. City taxes pay for the fire department, so now, when called out to an area like London, those who make a call are charged a fire service fee.
"In order to maintain a a fire department, it costs money. It's a good portion of our general fund. Fire trucks are not cheap and maintaining the workforce, the firefighters is to have them prepared and have them fight fires," Hernandez said.
Realtor Missy Flores is part of the London Ranch Estates development team. She said one of the biggest benefits of the property joining city limits would be having access to city water.
"There's a lot of maintenance in the water well in the area. Even the cost to maintain a water well, an aerobic system that is attached to the water well, it gets really expensive," Flores said.
The annexation of this land in the London area is not a done deal. The first reading of the annexation request will be presented to city council on Tuesday.
Stay tuned in to 3NEWS for updates as this story develops.