Three areas of Coahoma County were officially annexed into the city of Clarksdale on Sunday completing a process that has taken close to 10 years.
The city of Clarksdale adopted an ordinance in December 2011 attempting to annex five areas from the County. The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled only three of those areas would be annexed in January. The Coahoma County Board of Supervisors appealed the ruling attempting to get the Supreme Court to change its decision and annex none of the areas. The decisions concurred with a ruling in Coahoma County Chancery Court in 2016.
The Supreme Court upheld its decision in late April and annexation went into effect on Sunday.
The bypass at Highway 49 to Shady Nook – a store north of Lyon – (known as Area 3), the Hopson Commissary area including Shack Up Inn and all that development area to New Africa Road to where Highway 161 intersects with 61 (known as Area 4) and the Coahoma Country Club golf course to Highway 61 toward the area of Southern Duplicating (known as Area 5) will be annexed into Clarksdale.
The Viney Ridge Road neighborhood (known as Area 1) and a small segment along Friars Point Road (Area 2) will not be annexed into Clarksdale.
Chad Mask of the Carroll Warren & Parker Law Firm out of Jackson represented the city. He recalled when the annexation effort began under then-Mayor Henry Espy.
“It’s been a long road. Justice takes awhile,” Mask said. “Litigation takes awhile. The city initiated this 10 years ago by hiring Slaughter & Associates, a regional planning firm out of Oxford. Litigation actually began and the city adopted an ordinance back in December 2011. We’ve been in litigation since. The city is thrilled to see this culminate with the Supreme Court decision and make it all final.”
Opinions were mixed as to whether or not residents annexed would be better off.
“They’re going to get the full spectrum of city services,” Mask said. “The most obvious thing that a resident or property owner will get immediate savings on their homeowner’s insurance. These areas are all, right now, rated at Class 10, which is the worst rating in Mississippi.”
Mask said homeowners and business owners would not be eligible for Class 5 insurance.
While all five areas were not annexed, Mask was still pleased with how things turned out.
“The city didn’t get every square inch, but they got the vast majority of it,” he said.
Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy was glad to be moving forward.
“This has been going on for over a decade and it actually has concluded,” he said.
Espy himself had mixed feelings about annexation.
“I can’t describe if annexation is necessarily good or bad, but I do know with a city like Clarksdale that’s growing, annexation is inevitable,” he said.
Under the fire structure and sewer ratings, Espy said citizens could save money.
“We’re just going to keep giving quality good services,” he said. “They’re going to have the immediate response from the fire department and police department.”
Board of Supervisors President Paul Pearson from District 1 disagreed.
“The problem is you pay more property tax and your car tags go up,” he said. “That’s the problem. It won’t be a problem as long as they receive services that equal the amount the taxes being charged.”
Pearson did acknowledge more services may be provided.
“They’re responsible in most cases to provide some type of fire protection, some type of police protection,” he said. “They maintain the roads.”
For some individuals, however, it may not be worth any extra taxes.
“We were fighting because the people did not want to go in the city,” he said. “They did not want what the city had to offer.”
Now, Pearson said some individuals who do not want to pay the extra taxes could leave Coahoma County.
“I’m probably not too surprised (with the Supreme Court’s ruling), but disappointed for the individuals that were trying not to be inside the city,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with the city. There’s nothing wrong with living in the city of Clarksdale. Clarksdale’s a great place to be, but whatever reason, these people chose to live outside the city limits of Clarksdale and that’s where they wanted to be.”
Pearson also took issue with the impact annexation could have on the town of Lyon.
“The town of Lyon will be boxed in,” he said. “They have no way to grow in any direction except on 61. When you drive out of city limits of Lyon, you’ll drive directly into the city of Clarksdale.”
Pearson said Coahoma County would continue to have a positive working relationship with the city of Clarksdale.
“The city and county are going to work together, regardless,” he said. “We’re going to keep a positive working relationship with the city. The taxpayers depend on that. We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on.”
