RAPID CITY - Jeff Jundt, owner of JD's House of Pizza in Rapid Valley, hasn't heard much talk about Rapid City's most recent proposal for annexation, but based on what he has heard, people generally don't like it.

"The ones you do listen to, they don't want it. They don't want their taxes going up, either," he said.

Jundt, who lives in Rapid Valley, has not taken a position about annexation overall.

"I really don't want to jump off either side of the fence. Whatever happens, happens. I'll take it one way or the other," he said. "What can you do? If it comes through - and if it don't - I'm still here."

The city council voted Monday to ask Mayor Alan Hanks to appoint a committee to review annexation issues and bring back a recommendation.

For the past several weeks, council members have discussed annexing businesses that lie just outside the city limits along S.D. Highway 44 in Rapid Valley after Alderman Tom Johnson raised concerns about the amount of sales-tax revenue the city misses out on.

The city council rejected the idea eight months ago, but Johnson asked the council to reconsider a few weeks ago. In January, the city council - minus Johnson, who was absent - voted against the proposal, which would have required staff to contact property owners to gauge interest in voluntary annexation, but no one was proposing involuntary annexation.

Jundt said that if the city wants the extra tax revenue badly enough, they're likely to get it, but he doesn't think it will stop people from coming to his business. However, he worries that if his business is annexed, his landlord may have to charge him more rent to compensate for increased city taxes.

"It trickles right on down," he said.

Darrell Lich, who owns the Cenex station east of the Valley Square mini-mall, the office building behind Cenex and other lots in the valley, is opposed to annexation because he doesn't believe the city has anything beneficial to offer.

"The only thing it's going to do for me is make me collect tax for the city," he said. "We have our own water system out there with Rapid Valley (Sanitary District), and as far as any services they would offer, they have enough trouble taking care of the streets they've got in town right now."

Lich put in the streets for his properties himself, installed an underground water-drainage system and performs his own snow removal.

"Our area out there, we've spent all the money to get everything up the way it is. Now that that's all done, they want to annex it in and tax it and collect sales taxes," he said. "The county has been pretty good to work with out there, but I don't look forward to having to work with the city."

Instead of pursuing commercial annexation, the council decided on Monday to form a committee to study annexation issues as a whole, including annexation of all of Rapid Valley.

The mayor has not submitted names yet, but the committee will consist of five city council members, a member of the planning commission, a member of the Pennington County Commission and a member of the Rapid Valley Sanitary District board.

Alderman Bill Okrepkie, who with Karen Gundersen Olson voted against forming the committee, opposed adding a representative of the sanitary district board.

"If we are going to consider Rapid Valley, we can invite them, but I don't think they need to be in there when we talk about annexing other parts of the city," Okrepkie said. "They may have a seat at the table if we're talking about a particular area, but I think that's the city of Rapid City's business."

The city last considered Rapid Valley annexation more than two years ago two years ago. At that time, the city held a public hearing, and the effort resulted in two voluntary annexations..

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