No Man is an Island?

There's an article in today's East Valley Tribune about the quandary of having county islands in the middle of the Town of Gilbert:

A Gilbert Town Council subcommittee is trying to persuade 7,200 county island residents to annex into the town — or else subcommittee members will seek to require them to pay for fire service.

About 3,000 county island homes spread around Gilbert are served by Rural/Metro Corp., but the private company plans to leave the area once an alternative fire service is created.

Rural/Metro responds to or pays for all fire calls in the area, yet only about half the county residents around Gilbert subscribe to their service. Town officials expressed concern about taking over fire service and not getting reimbursed.

The Council Subcommittee on Fire Service Standards decided during a Monday meeting that finding a way to charge an across-the-board fee for fire service could avoid town losses but not leave the county residents to fend for themselves.

The subcommittee also is updating a pamphlet on the benefits of annexation — including road and trash-collection services, and fire or police protection — they plan to supply to county residents.

"The county residents are going to be in a position where they’re going to have to make decisions soon," said Councilman Dave Crozier, chairman of the subcommittee and former firefighter.

The subcommittee is planning town hall-style meetings later this year or early next year to gauge what the county island residents think of the fee idea or annexation.

The article also quotes Rep. Andy Biggs, who lives in a county island not far from Higley Groves West; he says that island residents don't really want to annex, but wouldn't mind paying for fire service. And this is the quandary. The residents have chosen to live in these islands because of lower taxes and more personal freedom; they don't really care about the services the town has to offer, like trash pickup, road repair and sewer hookups. But if someone's house catches fire, there is high interest in firefighting service. What if the Rural Metro station is far away from the burning house, but Gilbert Fire has a truck in the next block?

Back in the day when the county islands and the town were about half and half in size, they had an agreement to reimburse the responding municipality. As Gilbert has grown, this becomes less feasible. Yet it's unpalatable to endanger lives just because of cost, and it's not fair to Gilbert residents to pay the way for county island residents. What to do? Either annex or charge a fee, and that's the reason for the town hall meetings coming up. Of course, Gilbert has no legal authority to charge fees to county island residents; that ends up smelling like a tax. As always, these things take communication and compromise.

The Mister and I lived in a county island before our move to Higley Groves West (I'll refrain from the urge to tell the septic-tank story!), and, as in all neighborhoods, there are pros and cons to that situation. There are always some folks who live in harmony with others and don't abuse the freedoms or the relationships; and there are always some who find it difficult to get along and do abuse the freedoms. There just isn't an HOA to help control the uncontrolled. I hear the murmurings from my neighbors about "nastygrams" from the HOA about our garbage cans being left out, or cars being parked on the street, or other similar issues that seem petty. On the flip side, those petty inconveniences (and the not-so-petty infractions that have been addressed) have helped increase our property values by over 50 percent over the last five years. I cannot say the same about our house that was in the county island. There are generally two sides - or more - to every situation; it's a good idea to think through them all before making decisions.