Lubbock County residents expressed concerns on Wednesday afternoon, ahead of a vote by city council to expand the Lubbock city limits.
At their April 12 meeting, the council will consider three ordinances that would annex parcels of county land into the city.
“This is not ‘city’ out here,” county resident Teresa Thomas said. “Everybody out here has moved out here with a purpose of raising a family in a country atmosphere, and they are trying to take that away.”
Thomas said a portion of her neighborhood Tejas Estates was in one of the segments of land originally proposed for annexation. She said most of the affected neighbors are against the move, as they worry how city service would reach them.
“There’s one entrance to Tejas Estates,” she explained. Her neighbors believe police, fire, waste, or other city vehicles would have to leave the city limits to enter, then return. “City vehicles can’t leave the city, so are they charging me taxes to pay for that when they can’t get here?”
Another county resident Billy Scott said he has a long list of worries.
“You gotta hook up to city utilities, so we’re forced to do that. Most of us have livestock, so what will happen with that?” Scott said. “We’ll be told what we can and can’t do, and we are already out here.”
He said he tried to put his house on the market, but the uncertainty has left buyers asking, “Will property taxes go up? What will or won’t be allowed?”
Thomas added, they feel like the city isn’t hearing their concerns about how this would affect their pocketbooks and their lifestyles.
“It looks like a perfect little puzzle piece to complete that part of Lubbock, but they have no idea, there are families there are affecting, lives they are affecting. All they see is the financial part,” Thomas said. “It feels like a money grab.”
The City Manager Jarrett Atkinson said, “The City Council will consider the first reading on the potential annexations tomorrow. This follows two public hearings during which residents and interested parties in each of the three potential annexation areas provided comments to the Council. Following the last hearing and as a result of the comments received, the Council provided guidance to staff regarding possible changes to the original annexation proposals. These will be presented to Council tomorrow for further discussion and possible action.”
Thomas and Scott said they’ll be attending the City Council meeting on April 12 for the first reading along with their neighbors.
“We’re going to see if they’ve listened.”
