GEORGETOWN — No reason for excitement: Georgetown is not planning any annexations, Mayor Carol Jayroe says.
A Municipal Association of South Carolina presentation on annexation procedures last month was a learning experience for veteran and new City Council members.
Association Field Service Manager Charlie Barrineau outlined the three annexation methods to the Council at its Jan. 26 meeting.
“It is a service that is offered to all municipalities,” Georgetown Public Information Officer Cindy Thompson said. “With new Council members, it was an opportunity to familiarize them with what the process involves should an opportunity ever present itself in the future.”
The Council added its newest member in January when Tamika Williams Obeng was sworn in following her victory in a December special election to replace Al Joseph. Joseph resigned in August to become coordinator of the city’s Main Street program.
The Georgetown City Council has approved five annexations since 2018 but none since February 2020. Those annexations have added about 17.5 acres to the city in addition to a small portion of U.S. Highway 17.
The city’s most recent annexations were of properties bordering Georgetown whose owners came to the city with the idea for annexation, Jayroe said. Short staffing would make it difficult for the city to come up with a larger annexation proposal.
“It was very clear if you start to do an annexation process that you need someone to manage that process, and we certainly don’t have anybody that can do that right now,” Jayroe said.
The city does not plan to hire a dedicated staff member to work on annexations, Jayroe added. Such a position does exist in larger South Carolina cities, including Charleston and Columbia.
Georgetown is surrounded by multiple unincorporated communities, including Spring Gully, Graves Station and Kensington that rely on county services. Kensington is close enough to northern Georgetown that elementary school students in much of the city north of the Sampit River are zoned into Kensington Elementary School.
State law outlines three methods for the annexation of privately owned property. Under the first, the city can accept a petition signed by 100 percent of property owners within a property to be annexed and annex the land by ordinance.
Secondly, the city can accept a petition signed by at least 75 percent of landowners owning at least 75 percent of the property’s assessed value and then annex the land by ordinance.
Finally, 25 percent of the property’s qualified electors can sign a petition that will result in an election overseen by their county. If successful, a second petition could be filed against annexation to touch off a second, citywide election.
Georgetown’s municipal website has its own webpage touting the benefits of annexation, calling the process “critical” to its planning. Among its reasons are lower insurance rates, lack of impact fees and a higher rate of law enforcement officers per square mile compared to unincorporated Georgetown County.
“If you are considering development in Georgetown, you are strongly urged to contact the city of Georgetown to discuss the benefits of being part of the City,” according to the website.
It is unclear when the webpage was last updated. It lists former interim Planning Director Chris Inglese as a contact for further information. Inglese was hired as the administrator for Newberry County in November 2021.
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