Probate Judge Mike Davis says people laughed in 1986 when he predicted chaos would result from annexation wars among Madison, Huntsville and Decatur over Limestone County turf. But 21 years later, a neighboring city wants to build a school for its students inside Limestone County that would be funded by county taxpayers, and Davis’ predictions don’t seem so funny — especially to Limestone County Commission Chairman David Seibert, who has vowed to find a way to keep the county from being devoured.

“We’re fighting for survival now,” Seibert said.

Seibert is hoping, as are many local leaders, that a proposal last month by the City of Madison to build a school in an annexed portion of Limestone County will be a wake-up call to residents who may not have noticed how much county land has slipped into the hands of neighboring municipalities during those 21 years.

“Up until now, the shift in the tax base hasn’t been major,” Seibert said. “But if they build a school there, it will be.”

While an official gave an estimate in 2006 that at least 1,500 acres of Limestone County were annexed by Huntsville, Decatur and Madison, no current figures were available.

Seibert’s concern is that the three municipalities, which for years have been snapping up land surrounding major thoroughfares like Interstates 65 and 565 and U.S. 72, are now creeping toward the next big prize: the proposed I-65 exit at Tanner.

Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, who represents portions of Limestone and Madison counties, said problems of annexation have long needed addressing.

“Decatur, Huntsville and Madison have annexed across county boundaries almost in a competitive situation with each other. I agree something needs to be done,” Butler said. “I personally don’t like annexations across county lines.”

The City of Huntsville owns land along the county line and north of U.S. 72, as well as along Interstate 565 in southern Limestone County.

The City of Decatur owns land along Interstate 65 to the Tennessee River.

The City of Madison already owns land along the county line south of U.S. 72 from Copperfield Subdivision to Burgreen Road, as well as a parcel past Burgreen Road, said Madison Mayor Sandy Kirkindall.

The Madison boom

Madison, one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, now fits about 40,000 people in 23.3 square miles, while Athens fits half that many in 39 square miles.

A drive along County Line Road south of U.S. 72 answers the question of where the city plans to fit those new residents.

A large chunk of land on the Limestone County side of that road is home to a new Publix Shopping Center that will feature a 54,000-square-foot grocery store, a strip mall, four eateries and a Reliance Bank.

Brenda Reid, media-relations manager for Publix, said the store is set to open in January. The shopping center will also have a Tuesday Morning, which is a closeout store, but the developer, Flexxon Operating Ltd., did not respond to requests for details about other stores.

Kirkindall said the land was not annexed into Madison specifically for this project.

“That tract of land has been in Madison for maybe 10 years,” he said.

In addition, much of the property surrounding the center is being developed, he said.

“A lot of new subdivisions are being planned,” Kirkindall said.

Mike Ray, a resident of Heritage Provence subdivision, lives in a zone with a recently created zip code, 35756. Up until about 12 years ago, Madison had one zip code, 35758, before adding the second, 35757.

Heritage Provence subdivision is on the parcel of land annexed at the same time as the Publix land, so unlike many residents in subdivisions along the county line, Ray did not petition to be annexed into a neighboring city.

Ray works in Huntsville, his children attend Madison City Schools, he receives water and sewer from Madison but his electricity comes from Athens Utilities, whose services include trash collection. He is listed in both Athens and Huntsville phone books.

He said living on the line has not caused many inconveniences.

“The biggest problem is that my tax dollars don’t go to the school my kids go to. That’s a major problem,” Ray said. “Other than that, it’s no big deal.”

That tax division is one reason placing a school inside Limestone County to serve a city located inside another county would be harmful, Seibert said. Dee Fowler, superintendent of Madison City Schools, said the Madison Board of Education has a parcel of land in Limestone County and wants to build a high school to ease crowding at Bob Jones High School on Hughes Road, now ranked the largest in the state.

According to a state school board financial officer, tax revenues are divided based on the county of location rather than where the students reside. So if the City of Madison builds a school inside Limestone County and 500 of its 1,000 students live in Limestone County, county taxpayers are also funding the 500 students who reside in the City of Madison inside Madison County.



The solution

Funding another city’s schools with Limestone County tax dollars has renewed Seibert’s determination to find a way to stop cities from taking county land.

“The only options I see are Home Rule, metro government or Athens annexing everything,” he said. “That’s the only way to stop the influx of annexation because it is at the landowners’ request.”

Mike Davis said loss of tax revenue is only one of several problems caused by having multiple municipalities cross county lines.

“The election process is affected,” he said. “With political jurisdictions expanding borders, the complexity of administering an election increases.

Voters register in their county of residence, but also are eligible to vote in any elections in the city in which they reside.

In addition, which police and fire departments have jurisdiction in an area becomes confusing, he said.

Another issue is maintenance of roads, a problem illustrated in the 1990s when work was needed on County Line Road, portions of which fall into Madison, Huntsville, Madison County, Limestone County and the State of Alabama. Cooperation was required from agencies of all entities to get the work done.

“You’re looking at controlled chaos,” Davis said of the annexation. “We said that in 1986 and we’re saying it again now.”

Many residents along the county line were requesting to annex to access sewer service in Huntsville or Madison, but Butler said that problem might have been corrected when service was promised to Limestone Correctional Facility in Capshaw.

“There was competition between Limestone County and Madison water and sewer authorities,” he said. “But we fought to get the Limestone water and sewer system to take over the sewer needs for the prison. That, in essence, has stopped annexation to the east side for the reason of supplying sewer. They are upgrading sewer on the east side so that’s no a longer selling point to annex into Huntsville.”

If Limestone County and Athens officials develop a plan to stop the annexation, Butler said he would support them with the legislative delegation.

“The city and county need to make a decision about what’s best for Limestone County policy-wise,” he said. “If that requires legislation, bring it to the delegation. There’s been no coordinated effort in defining policy. There was a study done a good while back about metro government in Limestone County. They may want to bring those out, dust those off and look at it.”

Of delegates representing Limestone County, only one — District 5 Rep. Henry White — resides here and represents no other entity. Butler lives in Madison, District 3 Sen. Arthur Orr and District 4 Rep. Micky Hammon live in Decatur and District 25 Rep. Mac McCutcheon lives in Capshaw and works for the City of Huntsville.

“We’re hopeful they’ll be supportive in doing whatever we need to do to survive,” Seibert said.

Seibert is currently researching possible solutions.

“I think its paramount now that something be done,” he said.