It looks like the city and county will have different sets of Bloomington annexation remonstrance numbers after official results are announced in the next couple of weeks.
City council members adopted seven areas last September to be annexed into the city. Residents opposed had 90 days to file petitions. That remonstration period ended Jan. 6 th.
State law says 65 percent of residents in an area need to file valid petition signatures to void annexation in that area.
But many of the signatures are invalid due to remonstrance waivers. Waivers are agreements property owners signed that prohibit them from challenging annexation in exchange for city services, such as water and sewer.
The city and county look at waivers differently.
The city says it’s counting ALL waivers despite a 2019 state law that invalidates waivers that are more than 15-years old. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton says the law is unconstitutional because it seeks to retroactively void a legal contract.
READ MORE: Petitioners say they can block annexation, but will it hold up in court?
That voids more than 1,600 submitted signatures that would result in areas 1A, 1B, 1C, and 2 failing to meet that 65 percent threshold to void annexation. Thus, they would be annexed.
Monroe County auditor Catherine Smith has told WFIU/WTIU News she has no choice but to follow state law and will void waivers that are older than 15 years.
That results in only one area, 1B, being annexed. It would be the only area without enough signatures to void annexation, but does reach the 51+ percent threshold to fight it in court.
Unofficial results indicate the only areas that have been able to defeat annexation by both counts are areas 3, 4, and 5 – the smaller island areas inside the city.
If that’s the case, the city says it will challenge that 2019 law in court.
READ MORE: Pushing City Limits: Bloomington Annexation Coverage
Smith has 15 business days from Feb. 4 to report the final count. Following are the numbers released by the city this week.
Signatures Under 15-Y RESULT Needed All waivers RESULT
1A 1141 - 144 = 997 VOIDED 947 522 = 619 ANNEX
1B 1363 - 39 = 1324 ANNEX 1351 690 = 673 ANNEX
1C 83 - 0 = 83 VOIDED 68 79 = 4 ANNEX
2 1185 - 108 = 1077 VOIDED 850 617 = 568 ANNEX
3 86 - 3 = 83 VOIDED 63 20 = 66 VOIDED
4 78 - 6 = 72 VOIDED 59 15 = 63 VOIDED
5 98 - 15 = 83 VOIDED 53 37 = 61 VOIDED
Column one signatures minus the under 15-year waivers equals the result with current state law. Signatures minus all waivers as city sees fit results in last column.
Note: A line was added to this story to further explain annexation law for area 1B.
