Welcome to Hamilton County Residents Against Annexation.
*First Court Date Postponed to June 18, 2012 for Areas 4a and 4c
*Remaining areas: 8a, 10a, 10b. Areas 12a and 12b have had their first ordinance reading and are currently on hold, however, the mayor has recently expressed interest in pursuing these two areas
(Hurricane Creek, Emerald Valley, Windstone)
*Commissioner Mitch McClure (District 3) will hold a town hall meeting
on the subject of ANNEXATION
Tuesday, November 8th at 6pm. Location: Loftis Middle School
HCRAA NEEDS YOUR IMMEDIATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO CONTINUE TO FUND THE FIRST AND ALL FUTURE COURT CASES. We cannot guarantee an outcome, but HCRAA's actions have saved your family an 84% increase in your property taxes for 2009, 2010, and now 2011. We CAN guarantee that with of lack of support all annexed areas in litigation will pay at least an 84% increase in property taxes in 2012. Donate Today!
Is your home affected? Click here for the maps.
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We are a community action group formed in August 2009 as a non-profit corporation in the state of Tennessee in response to annexation efforts initiated by the city of Chattanooga under direction from Mayor Ron Littlefield. Using a decade old, state mandated document entitled the Master Interlocal Agreement, Mayor Littlefield contends that the city of Chattanooga is entitled to and charged with the annexation of thousands of residents living inside the Urban Growth Boundary.
As county residents, we face an 89% increase in property taxes (during the nation's worst financial environment since 1929) for services which residents already have. We enjoy our county government and find that the services the city may provide are not worth the increase in taxes relative to our expenses for garbage collection, fire protection and sanitation. The city, faced with budget shortfalls, understaffed police department, understaffed fire departments, city mandated storm water fees, and countless other problems cannot afford to annex these areas. City officials are quoted as stating that the cost of annexation will be recovered by the increase in tax revenue. The city cannot afford to provide these services without the revenue it will generate, and the estimated costs of providing the services are more than the tax revenues generated.
State law does not allow for annexation for the basis of revenue generation. We have countless examples in print, on television and on radio where city officials have clearly stated that these annexations were required for revenue and to increase the city's population before the 2010 census to generate more state and federal grant money.
The city of Chattanooga has failed to provide promised and required services in previous annexations. This is an additional requirement for an annexation to be valid. The city must bring all previous annexations up to the same level of service as the rest of the city before taking on more property. We have documented cases where sewers and sanitation have not been provided and streets have not been maintained.
In late 2009 HCRAA, Inc. brought about the first and only lawsuits against the city of Chattanooga assisting aggrieved property owners to assert their property rights under state law. We have retained Tennessee's most feared attorney in annexation issues, David Buuck from Knoxville, who has an over 15 year track record successfully fighting annexation cases in the Knoxville area to assist property owners in this fight at no cost. HCRAA depends solely on donations from affected and/or interested citizens to cover what could be over 1/2 million dollars in court costs and attorney fees. Although this number sounds insurmountable, it is less than $300 per affected homeowner. We need your support today to keep up the fight for these residents. Because of our actions in facilitating lawsuits in over 10 geographic areas, we have saved property owners a minimum of NOW THREE years worth of city property taxes.
Please take a moment to browse our site and see exactly why annexation is a bad idea for the city residents as well as reasons why county residents are opposed to this hostile takeover of our land and our sovereignty.
HCRAA Annexation Update Door Hangers
Updated 10/31/2011 by Kyle Holden
