RAPID CITY - Although the city council rejected it eight months ago, Alderman Tom Johnson has proposed annexing commercial properties along S.D. Highway 44 in Rapid Valley that are outside the city limits.

In January, the city council - minus Johnson, who was unable to attend - voted against the proposal, which would have required staff to contact property owners to gauge interest in voluntary annexation. No one was interested in trying to force anyone to annex.

Johnson told the legal and finance committee Wednesday that the council should reconsider its decision because the city is missing out on sales tax revenue.

"We have businesses that are currently collecting state sales tax but they're not collecting for the city," he said. "There's a community of interest between those businesses and Rapid City. Obviously, they've located there because of the population not only from Rapid Valley but from Rapid City."

Johnson said the city could annex those businesses and collect additional revenue but with little additional cost for providing services because the highway is maintained by the state, and sewer and water to that area already exists. He said it would be a simple matter for Rapid City to provide police and fire protection.

"We're letting a lot of revenue simply not be collected that the city of Rapid City could use to fix our streets, provide fire and police and a number of other things. It makes literally no sense (to not annex)," he said. "To quote a term used by a council person, … this is really low hanging fruit."

Alderman Malcom Chapman said the committee should pass the discussion on to Monday's council meeting out of respect for Johnson, who could not attend January's meeting and didn't have an opportunity to debate the issue.

Alderwoman Karen Gundersen Olson said she doesn't oppose talking about it but believes there should be a broader overall discussion about annexation.

"If we're going to talk about annexation, it shouldn't be exclusively about any one particular region or a particular set of commercial businesses. I think it should be a more general discussion that reflects the community's need to grow and the kind of services we provide," she said.

The full council will talk about the proposal at its regular meeting on Monday.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com