ST. CLOUD, Fla. — St. Cloud’s city council voted Tuesday to annex three neighborhoods that currently belong to Osceola County in a 4-1 vote.

King’s Crest, Edgewater, and Twin Lakes will now fall under St. Cloud city limits and will immediately get services and benefits of being city residents, such as service areas for St. Cloud Police and Fire Departments.

However, many residents, specifically in the King’s Crest Neighborhood, spoke out against these changes and the net increase in property taxes they will see, which the city shared will estimate around $800 annually.

Ricardo Watson has been fighting the annexation of 1,448 homes for months, filing complaints to the city on behalf of other concerned residents opposing these changes.

“I was just in the house working on the complaint, an amended complaint to file in court ... I also filed a legal objection, taking it to the city of St. Cloud to have them answer the questions that we all had, which is, is this right? Is this lawful? Is it legal?” Watson said. “I never got a response back. I emailed, no response back. So, I feel like our questions and answers were not heard.”

In addition to the complaints, multiple residents signed a petition earlier this year opposing the changes. Though Tuesday’s city council vote to annex the community is a result of a previously filed encumbrance, according to St. Cloud officials.

The city shared in a statement that “a notice of encumbrance is a recorded covenant in the public records of Osceola County and remains connected to the property. Once a property is encumbered, it allows the city to process an annexation to bring the property into the city limits once it is contiguous to the city limits.”

The annexation is supposed to be voluntary.

“The annexation itself, you know, is supposed to be voluntary. We had no volunteering to that. We didn't volunteer into that,” Watson said. “So, what it says is that the builder did, but at the same time, when we purchased these homes, these things weren't disclosed to us. The material facts were withheld.”

Watson and other residents said they had concerns about the encumbrance, many of them stating they were never made aware of it when they purchased their homes.

The city shared that the encumbrance remains valid even if the property is sold or transferred, and it does not expire, even if ownership of the property changes.

Watson and other King’s Crest residents said many of the homes in their community weren’t built by one specific developer. Rather, multiple residents bought land and paid to have their home individually built.

The city said they “have no control over whether a developer, real estate agent, or home seller discloses to a buyer the fact that the property is within the JPA and is encumbered.”

Watson said documents he requested point to the annexation being submitted in 1993. He’s not the only resident who left Tuesday’s meeting feeling frustrated, stating he felt several of his questions and points were dismissed.

Another resident, William Fisher, has lived in the King’s Crest neighborhood for 15 years. He said he was disappointed with the meeting outcome.

“The encumbrance that they pushed on us, nobody knew anything about it. When I purchased the house, there was nothing written. So, it came as a total shock to me,” Fisher said. “I asked them to show us (the encumbrance), and they said, ‘It's in the county, you need to go look at it,’” Fisher said.

When asked about the specific developer who filed the encumbrance, a spokesperson with the city said they did not have specifics on individual encumbrances.

In a statement, the city stated that residents in the King’s Crest, Edgewater and Twin Lakes communities were already receiving city services.

“Annexing them means they, like other city residents, now help pay for those services,” a city spokesperson said.