By KEN de la BASTIDE
Tribune enterprise editor
May 20, 2008 11:47 pm
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In regards to annexation, Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight says residents should consider what is best for them and their community.
Several hundred people attended the first of four public meetings held by the city to discuss the proposed annexation of 14.2 square miles.
“There were a lot of misstatements made at a Monday meeting,” Goodnight said. “You have to weigh the good and the bad, right and wrong. You need to decide what is best for individual property, family and keep in mind what is best for your community.”
Goodnight warned that there is a lot of inaccurate information being distributed by people opposed to the proposed annexation.
“It is OK not to agree with me,” he said. “I don’t like it when people play on people’s fears and emotions. Make an educated decision based on the true facts.”
Goodnight kept the meeting at Taylor Primary School mainly focused on residents of the Indian Heights subdivision which is included in the annexation ordinance for the westside of the city.
He noted five properties in the subdivision that would see a reduction in taxes and other expenses ranging from $185 to $1,202 based on the assessed valuation of the property and dependent on the state 1 percent cap on residential property taxes slated to take effect in 2010.
“I feel Indian Heights is part of the community,” Goodnight said. “I don’t want this to be a divisive issue.”
John Roberts, with the Indian Heights Community Association, said the organization endorses the annexation.
“We have a population of 3,200, according to the 2000 census, but we are governed like we live on a rural road,” he said. “For years, we were told people in Indian Heights couldn’t afford to live in Kokomo. That is a myth. We care deeply how Kokomo is governed and prospers.”
Several people said the community association doesn’t speak for everyone in the subdivision.
John Bowman said there is good and bad to the annexation, but noted that as a postal worker he noticed neighborhoods in Kokomo where the codes were not being enforced when it came to property maintenance.
“I served in the Marines in 1990 and 1991,” Bowman said. “I went overseas to keep one country from taking land from another.
“You get to do it no matter what people what,” he said of the annexation.
Goodnight said he wished he wasn’t discussing annexation now, but the annexation has to take place one year before the 2010 census so that Kokomo can receive more federal and state funds that are distributed based on population.
Robert Bodine, a resident of Indian Heights, said the city was going to be $2.5 million in the red in 2010, and the annexation is intended to raise city revenues.
Goodnight said the city would still come up short if no changes in operation were undertaken, but changes were already being made to make government more efficient.
Bodine said the city already has inadequate fire protection in the south end of the city and wondered how the annexed areas could be served.
Goodnight said he has been in discussions with the Harrison and Taylor township trustees about cost sharing and consolidation.
“We could assume one of the fire stations in Taylor,” Goodnight said. “The Taylor Township Fire Department would continue to provide coverage to the outlying areas.”
Taylor Township Trustee Dianne Kuntz said it is not a fire department issue and protection will continue to be provided.
“The issue is do you want to be annexed or not?” she said.
Concerning police and department services, Goodnight said additional police and firefighters would be hired and it was possible some Howard County Sheriff Department deputies and volunteer firefighters could be hired because they were familiar with the areas to be annexed
KPD Chief Rod Baker said Indian Heights residents will have a better response time if annexed into the city.
“I guarantee it,” he said. “It will be 5 to 15 minutes at the most.”
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