MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KKCO) - Residents have spoken and Fruitvale and Clifton will not be annexed into the City of Grand Junction.

County Commissioner Janet Rowland says not enough signatures were gathered from folks in those areas to petition the city.

Residents were being asked to pay more in property taxes in exchange for more and better government services.

Rowland says what the county is hearing is that people want a more rural lifestyle and don’t want the municipal level of services a city typically provides. She says the county will have to cut back on the services it provides in the areas because it’s just too expensive.

"We’ve had to expend a lot of dollars that should have gone to other areas of the community in that area because it’s such a highly urbanized area that needs those types of services. And we just can’t continue to do that so we’ll be returning that area to a more rural level of services," Rowland says.

Rowland says the Fruitvale and Clifton areas make up about 17 to 19 percent of the county’s population and the county has been spending 40 to 55 percent of its revenue in those areas to provide urban services. She says the county can’t continue to have Fruita, Palisade and Grand Junction subsidize that portion of the county.