Opinion ID: 1682185
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The need for municipal services in the area sought to be annexed.

Text: ¶ 26. We have previously considered seven non-exclusive factors to determine if this indicator of reasonableness was met: (1) requests for water and sewage services; (2) plan of the City to provide first-response fire protection; (3) adequacy of existing fire protection; (4) plan of the City to provide police protection; (5) plan of the City to provide increased solid waste collection; (6) use of septic tanks in the proposed annexation area; and (7) population density. Winona, 879 So.2d at 984. ¶ 27. The trial court determined that the PAA desperately needed sewer access, as has been mentioned above, noting that the City has already extended water and sewer access to portions of the PAA. It is undisputed that Brookhaven has thirty-two police officers who serve the City; in contrast, Lincoln County has only twenty officers in the Sheriff's department to serve 585 square miles. Evidence demonstrated that the City already provides police services in the PAA and could expand rapidly to provide more. ¶ 28. The City also has a paid, full-time fire department, which has long responded to calls from within the PAA, actually maintaining a fire station within the PAA. The Brookhaven Fire Department responded to 108 calls from within the PAA over a five-year period, and the City offered that annexation would allow it to expand these services. The trial court found that this indicator ran in favor of the City. ¶ 29. The CAA concedes that these services have long been offered and accepted by those in the PAA, but offers that [t]he City was unable to muster a single person who requested services, ignoring the 108 documented fire calls from the PAA. This argument simply strains credibility. ¶ 30. The PAA clearly needs City services, and Brookhaven is in the position to provide them. This is different from the case of Jackson, in which we stated that [b]efore the City of Jackson annexes more land and residents for which it has had to extend infrastructure and provide services, it should make an effort to extend that infrastructure to the vacant, developable land within the existing boundaries and take steps to encourage development in those areas. Jackson, 691 So.2d at 983. The opposite situation exists here; Brookhaven has already extended municipal services well beyond its boundaries without recompense. We do not pass judgment on whether this was economically advisable on behalf of the City, but note that the CAA simply does not want to pay for the services which it already receives free. This indicium runs in favor of Brookhaven.