Kingsland Considers Options To Annex Dollar General Store

KINGSLAND - Mayor Sharon Crosby told the Kingsland City Council last Thursday that City Attorney Thomas Burns believes there is "about an 80 percent chance" the city could annex the new Dollar General store into the city limits without having to go through a petition process.While the entry into the parking lot of the new Dollar General store is within the Kingsland city limits, the store itself is outside the city limits, which means the city does not collect any sales tax revenue from the business.The only local sales tax collected at the Kingsland store is for the county, which is 3.25 percent. The sales tax for the City of Kingsland is 1 percent.According to a map of Kingsland, the city limits boundary goes due south from the southwest corner of the Hwy. 79/ Hwy. 189 intersection. It includes only a few feet of property west of the Hwy. 189 just south of the intersection."We desperately need the money," Crosby said in an interview after the meeting.The mayor said she and Burns were attending a meeting together when he looked over the annexation procedures that were published by the Arkansas Municipal League, which is an organization that assists cities with legal matters.While many annexations require a petition of the land owners within the targeted area, state law also provides a way a city can issue an ordinance to annex a piece of property that adjoins the city limits. Crosby said Burns told her he felt about "80 percent" sure the city could use the ordinance method, but he wanted to research it further before giving a definitive answer. Crosby said she hoped to have Burns at last week's Kingsland City Council meeting, but he was ill and unable to attend.Even though the store itself sits outside the Kingsland city limits, Crosby said the city provides both water and sewer service to the business.Crosby said in a separate interview that her intent is to only an-nex the Dollar General property, and it would not include any residential property.Originally, the…