A voluntary annexation is a citizen-initiated petition to receive Town services. The most common example is when a property owner wants to connect to Town water or sewer for a development project. Homeowners outside the Town limits with well and septic tank problems may also seek to connect to public water and sewer.  There are two types of voluntary annexations applications: contiguous annexation and satellite annexation.

• Contiguous Annexation Petition: Required when requesting annexation of property that abuts directly up against the primary corporate limits; the application must be signed by all of the property owners.
• Satellite Annexation Petition: Required when requesting annexation of a property that does not abut directly up against the primary corporate limits; the application must be signed by all of the property owners. The area to be annexed must meet certain criteria: 1) it cannot be more than three miles from the primary corporate limits of the annexing municipality; 2) it cannot be closer to another municipality’s primary corporate limits; and 3) the annexing municipality must be able to provide the same services to the satellite portion as it does the primary corporate limits.

Annexation petitions can be submitted through the Town's Permit & Inspections Portal.  The filing fee is $200. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and run about a two-month cycle or process, starting with application completeness review and ending with the public hearing. If the Town Council decides to annex your property, they will adopt an annexation ordinance; the effective date of annexation is usually at the end of the month in which the public hearing is held.

At the effective date, the property owner will be entitled to all available town services. Some services like public water and/or sewer may not be immediately available if there are no utility lines in the ground nearby. When these become available due to construction at a later date, you will be allowed to tie-in to the public system. Residential annexations will receive garbage pick-up, in-Town Parks and Recreation fees, and Garner Police service (instead of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office).

The property will be subject to Town of Garner as well as Wake County property taxes.