Plans to enlarge the city limits of Myrtle Beach and other area municipalities could be blocked if state legislators make it illegal for cities to use water service to compel annexation.

Since the S.C. Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that cities can make future annexation a requirement of utility service, officials have seen it as one of few ways to expand city limits in the face of state laws that give more rights to landowners.

Myrtle Beach plans to bring in as many as 7,000 new residents over time, along with an unknown amount of tax revenue and business license fees. If that happens, Myrtle Beach would stretch from the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base to Restaurant Row, from the ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway in most places.

But bills in the Senate and House could prevent that. One of the sponsors of the Senate bill, Sen. Michael Fair, R-Greenville, says the cities' actions amount to extortion: Join the city or lose your water.

City officials throughout the Strand are carefully watching the bills but say they won't change their policies.

Many people have protested attempts to annex their land, but find they have no choice. For some communities, residents say, annexation not only means higher taxes but a loss of identity.

"We know the benefits to annexation," said The Rev. William Gause, president of the community association in the Racepath neighborhood, south of U.S. 501 and one of the areas that could be annexed. "We like things the way they are. It's about the taxes, yes, and it's about our own community."

Officials said it is only fair they be allowed to annex those customers who live near cities without paying higher taxes.

Officials trumpet the benefits to living inside city limits, including shorter response times for fire and police service and reduced utility bills. Plus, officials said, they can monitor and control growth if the land is better integrated into the city.

"We want to convince people that they'd be better off in the city of Conway, anyway," Conway City Administrator Steve Thomas said. "You want people to feel good about being in the city. But it's an emotional issue. Some people just can't get past the taxes."

Myrtle Beach has estimated that property owners with homes valued at $150,000 or less would probably save money by being annexed into the city because utility savings would offset increased taxes.

Still, annexation should be up to landowners, Fair said. Most of Fair's Senate district lies in unincorporated areas outside Greenville.

"When you're the only provider of water, it's grossly unfair and unethical to demand annexation," he said. "It's not illegal, but I hope it will be."

Fair's bill faces an uphill battle as cities across the state line up against it. Under pressure from the Municipal Association of South Carolina, a similar bill failed last year.

"We are fighting is as hard as we can," said Gary Cannon, the association's director of intergovernmental relations. "It's an an attack on home rule."

If annexation continues, the space between cities will shrink. Myrtle Beach could one day border Conway, Thomas said.

"Anything is conceivable," Thomas said.

Myrtle Beach has plans to annex north, south and west. North Myrtle Beach hopes to annex north. Conway hopes to annex east. Georgetown could also expand.

Other cities, such as Surfside Beach, cannot use utility service to compel annexation because they do not sell water or sewer service.

Many utility customers have signed contracts known as restrictive covenants that require them to submit a petition to annex once their land becomes contiguous to city limits. Barring a change in the law, Myrtle Beach hopes to make most, if not all, utility customers sign similar deals.

Restrictive covenants are a useful tool for cities that want to grow but find themselves handcuffed by state annexation laws, officials said. Under S.C. law, land cannot be annexed unless property owners agree. In the face of higher property taxes, few do.

"The Supreme Court has said that's what we can do," said Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea. "If the law is changed, cities may find it's impossible to continue to provide water and sewer service to customers outside city limits."

Annexation is expensive for cities, which must pay to expand services such as police, fire, parks and road maintenance into newly annexed areas.

The process is typically gradual. Each month, Myrtle Beach annexes a few properties, extending the city limits by an acre at a time.

The same process occurs in other cities and will as long as there are restrictive covenants to enforce, officials said.

"Anybody who's got water service has probably signed an annexation agreement," said North Myrtle Beach City Manager John Smith.

Staff writer Erin Reed contributed to this report.