Our View: Havre annexation process should continue

The city of Havre is in the midst of the long process of annexing land to the city. Most of the land has long been inside the area most people consider Havre, but it was never annexed, so many properties were not paying their full share in taxes and fees.

In this round of annexations, Holiday Village Mall. AmericInn and surrounding areas will be annexed.

Eventually, property to the city’s north and west — buildings such as Walmart and Kmart will be added to the city.

The process is long and arduous, but the city is going through the process with care.

Earlier efforts to annex property was marked by tension and lawsuits. While we can’t imagine that companies that own property to be annexed are too excited by the possibility of annexation — and higher taxes and fees — they seem to be working with city officials on making this an orderly process.

Councilman Andrew Brekke said Hill County officials have expressed some concerns about losing taxable property, but the talks have been far more productive than they were several years ago when the city and county were virtually at war.

We hope that cooler heads prevail as the talks continue. Once the process is completed, we hope city officials live up to their promises that as development continues of the city outskirts, property will be annexed promptly.

In the long run, that will be in the best interests of all involved.