Not living in Austin, I missed the news that several de-annexation elections were on the May 4th ballot.
In 2017, Texas lawmakers passed a bill stopping cities in large counties from being able to annex areas if residents didn’t want to be part of the city. But between the time the law passed and when it went into effect, many areas were annexed.
Last year, lawmakers passed House Bill 3053 to allow neighborhoods that were annexed during that time period to disannex, if voters approve.
Lost Creek in West Austin is the largest area proposing to deannex itself from the city. It’s been a part of Austin since 2015, but many residents have been petitioning to separate them from the city, claiming they’ve been paying city taxes for services that have been lacking. Neighbors in the area have had to pay for off-duty sheriffs to patrol the area.
The results? Anywhere voters voted (for a couple of propositions, literally no one showed up to vote), they voted to get the hell out of Austin.
Three areas voted to disannex from Austin after saying they’re paying for services they don’t receive.
Katieva Kizer lives on Blue Goose Road in northeast Austin, which is one of the six neighborhoods that voted to leave Austin’s city limits on Saturday.
“The whole time we’ve been with them, it’s been a run around as to who should provide anything,” Kizer said.
Texas passed HB 3053 which stopped cities in large counties from being able to annex areas if residents didn’t want to be part of the city. But between March 2015 and December 2017, many neighborhoods were annexed.
“My grandfather fought the annexation of this little area the whole time here until he died in 2015,” Kizer said. “He was the kind of guy that would call the county … Call the city and tell them, ‘You need to come do things.’”
Kizer said they never got any benefits from the city in the seven years they were annexed and that their roads and water infrastructure deteriorated.
“I did call and contact the city for services, and they’re like, ‘No, we’re not up to date in your area to provide those services,'” Kizer said. “Huge potholes everywhere … They didn’t actually come and fix our road until they started doing new construction in the rest of the area. It was only to benefit the newcomers to the area, not anybody that’s already been here and paying taxes.”
Lost Creek, Blue Goose Road and River Place Outparcels voted to leave Austin on Saturday. Kizer was one of the three people to vote and said there are nine or 10 houses in their 28-acre neighborhood.
“They can’t tell you that every vote doesn’t count because three of us voted, and it could have just been one of us,” Kizer said. “If it was none of us, then it would have stayed the same. So every vote does matter. It does count … Because just the three of us made the decision for all of us.”
Disannexing means they will no longer receive certain city services, like fire or police protection, no street maintenance, public health sanitation, and more.
“There weren’t a lot of things to look forward to or that they were giving us,” Kizer said. “So, the major benefit is that I get to go back to being county taxed.”
Lost Creek, the largest of the neighborhoods at 738 acres, had more than 1,500 people vote with 91% for disannexing. River Place Outparcels, a 212-acre area, only had one person vote for disannexing, and no one vote against it.
The City of Austin seems to have no problem finding money for the homeless industrial complex or funding toy trains, but falls down on basic necessities like fixing potholes.
As foretold by the Historical Records
Until Austin gets its act together (or the charter is revoked), maybe the legislature should let any neighborhood in Austin vote to disannex itself from the People’s Republic…
(Hat tip: Dwight.)