Annexation right move to protect Pope’s unique identity

Pope Mayor Jamie Howell and the board of aldermen are wisely moving ahead with annexations plans — the first in decades, if ever — that will take areas surrounding the town into its corporate limits. It is a move long overdue that should benefit both present citizens and those who will be newly included in town limits.
Annexation proposals are rarely popular with everyone who is about to be included. That may be especially true of Pope residents (using the term in its larger sense for anyone who claims to come from there, not just those presently living in corporate limits), who are known to be very independent.
For many reasons — being a small town on the southern edge of the county, having fought to preserve its school during consolidation to see it survive as a K-8th district where people now move for their children to attend, having provided the county with characters both colorful and accomplished and sometimes both — Pope has a sense of identity that makes it unique. Pope people have a pride of place that is the envy of the rest of us, even though we don’t often admit it in their presence.
Naturally, independent people resist the idea of adding another layer of government to their lives, but in this case extending the town limits is a positive step to preserving all those unique assets that make Pope Pope.
With annexation the approaches to the town can be protected. Extending corporate limits to include Hentz Road, Pope-Crowder Road, Vassar Road and Highway 51 will allow Pope’s own elected officials, should the need arise, to regulate what types of structures and uses will be allowed. Though those decisions now come before the county’s land use commission, annexation could allow decisions that would effect property values to be made by the town itself.
With annexation, about 20 percent of sales tax now collected at Pope businesses that now lie outside corporate limits would come back directly to the town instead of going to the state’s general fund.
With annexation will come municipal taxes, but there may be advantages that more than offset the additional expense. We asked the Panola County Tax Assessor’s office to calculate the difference in taxes between hypothetical $100,000 homes located inside and outside corporate limits. About $141 more a year, they determined.
Taxpayers who live in the proposed annex area should contact their insurance companies to learn the difference in the cost of fire insurance for a home in fire districts rated Class Nine and Pope’s Class Seven rating.
“A lowering of the fire protection class to a PC 7 should result in a lower homeowner or dwelling fire insurance premium, as well as allow more options of carriers that will provide coverage in a better fire protection class,” said Perrin Caldwell of Caldwell Insurance.
“However there are many variables that go into the rating of a homeowner policy’s premium, and it would be difficult for me to assume or determine what percentage an individual’s actual  decrease might be,” Caldwell added.
All the more reason for affected residents to contact their own insurance companies and learn for themselves.
The mayor and board have not approached annexation haphazardly. They chose Mike Slaughter of Slaughter and Associates Urban Planning Consultants to guide them through the process. The Panola native is the “go-to guy” for Mississippi municipalities planning annexation. He will be at Tuesday’s hearing to answer questions.
Pope’s restaurants have earned a reputation that attracts diners from Panola and surrounding counties. People move there so their kids can attend the school. It has a rural/urban mix that makes it picturesque and appealing. Expanding corporate limits to include what is already in reality Pope makes sense to preserve what’s best there while expanding public safety and protecting property values.  It is important for citizens who will be annexed to attend the hearing and learn about what is proposed. That is what the hearing is about.
(See story page A1, map A2)