RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ó Lawmakers reforming North Carolina’s involuntary property annexation law are keeping a proposal allowing residents to vote on urban expansion under limited conditions.

A House budget committee decided Tuesday to allow a local vote on whether a city should annex neighboring property and then tax it. But lawmakers refused to lower a relatively high barrier requiring signatures from 15 percent of voters before triggering a referendum.

North Carolina is one of a handful of states which allows cities to expand against property owners’ wishes. People have complained for years about feeling cheated by being forced to pay city taxes they didn’t want. Municipal leaders believe the law has kept cities healthy.