Something that everyone does not realize is that since you are within the 3 mile “jurisdiction” of Mobile, you are already paying the City a 2% sales tax at Walmart, Lowes, etc for police and fire protection.  The total sales tax you are paying now is 7.5% (5.5% + 2%)

If you do not live within the 3 mile City limits, your sales tax is only 5.5%.

Now if this area is annexed, that means that the City limit lines will be further out—and, in turn, people 3 miles out from the new City limit boundaries will also have an increase in their sales tax from 5.5% to 7.5%.

Summary—even MORE tax revenue for the City of Mobile.  That’s all the City wants—more and more tax revenue.

The City needs to do a better job with the area INSDIE of their current City limits before expanding out to Tillman’s Corner and Theodore!

Everyone in Tillman’s Corner and in the Theodore area to be annexed are already paying the City taxes (2%) for police and fire protection.  So if the City is offering better police and fire protection if you vote for annexation—what have they been doing with the 2% you’ve already been paying? 

One thing for sure, they are not paying their policeman high enough wages.  They have recently lost a dozen policemen who are leaving the department and going to better paying jobs.  That just means that we’re going to have even MORE inexperienced police on the force.

I also believe that the City is only going after the highly commercialized areas for the tax revenue…. 

What can you expect from this?  Well, with the last annexation, the Mobile County School System lost several million dollars from sales tax revenue.  If this new area is annexed, then look for the school system to be even further in the RED.  This affects everyone that has children and grandchildren that attend public school EVERYWHERE in Mobile County.

2nd—Increased sales tax.  You’re going to go from 7.5% to 9.0% on groceries and other items you buy at WalMart, Lowes, etc.

3rd—Increased property taxes!

So all of you in Tillman’s Corner and Theodore, take a ride and look around.  Talk to the people who were annexed into the City just recently.  Find out how much better their services are…. has their drainage issues been solved, streets paved, oh—and did they receive their smoke alarms?  Wonder if the City supplied batteries for them?

Maybe the City should focus on solving issues (crime, roads, drainage, taxes) affecting its residents instead of expanding its boundaries.  At some point the City cannot expand further west and will have to deal with its financial issues - I dont know that residents of Mississippi want to be part of the City of Mobile!!

You also have the small business owners who will have to pay more taxes which will be passed onto the customer. They will have to comply with sign ordinances, obtain city business licenses. And they dont have a vote in the annexation, only if they happen to also live in the carefully crafted delineated area.

Everyone does not get a chance to vote on this annexation.  Only those that live in the areas included within the delineation get to vote and that is rigged in favor of Jones.

Get ready to be annexed because in this city, GREED RULES! And even if they “vote” on this and everyone votes against it, they will still win…money makes the decisions in this town.

I live outside the city limits for the moment until someone decides they want to annex where I live.  If you want the sides of the road mowed where you live…THEN MOVE! Better yet…get out and mow it yourself.  We do not have neighbors directly across the road from us so we mow a strip on our side of the property and across the road if we want it to look good. When they do send a tractor through, it moves 40 to 50 miles and hour and just makes a quick pass so it’s not a pretty site anyway. They do not have enough law enforcement or emergency personnel to handle what they have now and yet they want a bigger piece of the pie. Eventually, from the MS stateline to Florida and on up until you get to Escambia County, Alabama, we will all be known as the City of Mobile. Sounds like “Sam” wants to be “The King” of something.

As for grass, go downtown and take a look at that eyesore next to government plaza with knee high grass growing all around the place!

There has always been people that like to live within city limits and city rules.  They like that uniformity and government involvement in every aspect of their lives.  That’s fine.  It’s a personal choice and they are willing to pay a premium price to maintain that lifestyle.
. But, there are also those of us that do not like government rules swallowing us whole.  We chose to live outside the city limits for many reasons.  One of which is freedom from governmental oppression.  Now, we have a bunch of bean counters with crayolas determining how to seize control of our land.
. I don’t like it and I do not see a single benefit of becoming a part of the city.