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Annexation: The Benefits of Being in the City Limits
By Jerry | August 7, 2007
Every now and then I’ll be talking to a citizen about a problem in their area only to find out that they don’t in fact live inside the city limits of Snellville. “But my address is in Snellville” is the usual response. The truth is, only 36.5% of all people with a Snellville mailing address actually live in the city limits!
If you have ever seen a map of the city, you understand just how jagged and sometimes random our city limits are. When the city was incorporated in 1923, the original city limits were defined by a circle with a radius of 1-mile centered at the intersection of US 78 and GA 124. In the 84 years that have passed since that day, the Mayor and City Council have annexed enough land to more than triple the original 3.14 square miles. But as Snellville has grown, so has the county. It is now at the point that there is no visual distinction between a neighborhood in the city, and one just across the street that is not.
Mayor, if theres no difference in whether I do or don’t live inside the limits, why does it matter? Wait! there is a huge difference! While Gwinnett and Snellville offer many of the same services, Snellville offers them better, and closer to home. Let’s compare a few:
- Police Protection:
- Snellville: The Snellville Police have an average response time of two minutes and on average there is 1 officer for every 423 residents or 2.4 officers per square mile!
- Gwinnett: The county police take an average of 16 minutes to respond to calls in the greater Snellville area. They also only have 1 officer for every 1074 residents. That comes out to 1.3 officers per square mile, almost half of what Snellville offers.
- Recycling and Sanitation:
- Snellville: Our NEW Recycling Center at T. W. Briscoe Park is free and available to all city residents. It is no further that 3 miles from any point in the city. All Sanitation Services are included in your city taxes, no extra charge! See this brochure for more information.
- Gwinnett: The closest county recycling center is located on Satellite Boulevard, thats a 20~30 minute drive from Snellville! The county also charges each household up to $240 a year for garbage service. Thats enough money to pay for your city taxes by itself!
- Representation:
- Snellville: The Mayor and City Council are elected by all registered residents of the city, that comes out to 1 City Council Member per 3640 residents.
- Gwinnett: The Commission Chairman is elected by the entire county, each of the 4 Commissioners are elected by district, with an average of 150,000 residents per district.
These are just a few of the benefits we as a city can offer you inside the city limits. To find a full comparison, the city staff has prepared this table for your convenience.
Ok Mayor, I’m interested in seeing what I can do to be annexed, what’s the process? Well first, there will be two meetings coming up where you can meet with the City and discuss/learn about the process.
- The first meeting will be tomorrow, Wednesday August 8th at 6pm in the Community Room of City Hall.
- If you cannot make the first meeting, another meeting will be held on Saturday August 18th in the Betty McMichael Room in the Briscoe Park Headquarters at 8:30am
The annexation process can be initiated any time, so don’t feel pressured that you have to attend these meetings to get things rolling. However we do encourage your attendance. All the information about the annexation process is available 24 hours a day on the City Website, the address is:
http://www.snellville.org/plandev/annexationprocess.aspx
As always, if you can’t find the proper place to ask a question, call me up or send me an email and I will make sure your questions get to the right people.
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