The cities have been at odds since January about extraterritorial jurisdiction boundaries. Belton and Harker Heights worked out an agreement on ETJ boundaries between the cities in advance to annexations that both were completing in the area.
The deal was never consummated because Nolanville came out with population estimates in advance of Belton and Harker Heights’ final agreement that indicated Nolanville’s population had climbed past 5,000. With a city population more than 5,000, Nolanville is eligible to apply for home rule status, which gives its leadership more autonomy, and the figure meets a threshold established by state law that expands a city’s ETJ an additional half mile.
The population estimate brought Nolanville’s ETJ into the area that Belton and Harker Heights had agreed to divide.
The city councils from Harker Heights and Belton agreed to have an independent third party conduct a count in an attempt at reaching an unbiased figure. Belton City Manager Sam Listi said he expects to have the report back in about three weeks.
In March, it looked like the cities would avoid the third-party count with a negotiated agreement but the talks quickly broke down.
Listi, Harker Heights City Manager Steve Carpenter and Nolanville Mayor Emma McCullough all declined to speak specifically about why the latest negotiations broke down.
Listi did confirm, however, that it was the opinion of Harker Heights and Belton leaders that Nolanville was attempting to negotiate from a position of power the other cities do not feel it has.
In other words, Nolanville is sticking with its latest population estimate of 5,024.
Belton and Harker Heights are confident that in their study Nolanville’s population will come in under 5,000. Early on in the dispute Carpenter authorized his staff to do an unofficial population estimate of Nolanville that determined the city needed more than 600 people to reach the 5,000 mark.
There is still a chance for the cities to negotiate once the independent study in completed but the leaders from each city seem skeptical about such a scenario. Each city leader independently expressed reticence to talk about the issue citing potential litigation.
