It was introduced with a great hullabaloo in January and signed into law with much fanfare in May.

But according to Warsaw and Kosciusko County officials, the state's new law concerning annexations, which takes effect July 1, will have little, if any, effect on county taxpayers and residents.

"Other than requiring new procedures we have to set up to comply with the new law - and that's simply a matter of mechanics in the handling of the additional funds - it won't have any effect on us and the way we pursue annexations," said Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins.

"I don't anticipate it's going to change the city's philosophy of only annexing when asked," Wiggins added.

The new mechanics involve the following steps:

• Developing a detailed fiscal plan for each proposed annexation that includes a legal description of the property annexed, a map of the current and proposed municipal boundaries, the current and proposed zoning classifications and the detailed costs to the property owners in the annexed area.

• Impounding the property tax dollars collected from a newly annexed area until the services called for in the fiscal plan are constructed and being provided, under the supervision of a new Annexation Advisory Board. The board will consist of the trustee of the township with the largest number of residents living within the annexed territory; the county councilman representing the largest number of residents in the annexed territory; the municipal engineer; two residents or property owners from within the annexed area appointed by the municipal executive; and two residents or property owners from within the annexed area appointed by the county council.

The board serves until all impounded taxes are spent.

County Auditor Charlene Knispel and Warsaw Clerk-Treasurer Elaine Call both said while the state has not yet issued any detailed guidelines for implementing the changes called for by the new law, it doesn't appear to impose any undue burdens on either office.

"It won't make it more difficult for our office," Knispel said. "When an area finally becomes a part of the city, the city would be more involved than us. But until we get more direction from the state, it's really hard to say."

Call agreed with Knispel's assessment, adding it will require a greater degree of coordination with the State Board of Accounts until the changes are fully implemented and everyone involved gains experience in working with the new requirements.

""It will entail us working more closely with the state at first," she said. "But it appears that the net tax proceeds from the annexed area will have to be held in a separate account until the services are provided."

Dan Richard, director of the county Area Plan Commission, said the new law will have very little effect on his department because annexation actually reduces the plan commission's responsibility in the annexed areas.

"Annexation to us really means we lose jurisdiction," he said. "So it won't affect us. In some ways it simply means a transfer of responsibility from us to the city and town planning commissions."

Warsaw City Planner Jeff Noffsinger said his department would be the most affected by the new law.

"I understand that this new law was a compromise between those who are pro-annexation and those who are anti-annexation," he said. "It really hurts us in the amount of time it delays annexing industrial and commercial property by pushing back the amount of time it takes.

"Preparing the detailed fiscal plan is what will delay the annexation process," he added. "It really means doing additional calculations. But the clerk's office will have to set up the restricted accounts and manage them. Before, the clerk's office only had to provide proper notification to the annexed property owners."

The main reason county residents won't notice the effect of the new law is the city's annexation policy and the predominance of non-residential annexation the city has done.

"Historically, the city has only undertaken voluntary annexations, So in that respect, the situation won't change," he said. "The annexations that have taken place have also been primarily commercial and industrial properties.

"I expect to see more annexation of undeveloped residential land in the future," he added. "The reason is people will request annexation for the extension of some type of service the city provides."

For Kosciusko County, the service most requested is sanitary sewers, Noffsinger said. Because the city is quickly approaching its capacity at its treatment plant, sewers may also be a brake on future annexations until that capacity is increased.

"Sewer service has been the driving factor in the annexations that have taken place," he said. "But the sewers are also the main limiting factor to growth." [[In-content Ad]]