- It's a joint meeting of the Ellsville Town Council and the Richland Township Advisory Board. I will
- certify that there is a quorum for both committees present. And starting with Dan, we will introduce
- ourselves. Dan. Dan Swofford, town of Ellsville. Trevor Sager, town of Ellsville. William Ellis, town
- of Ellsville. Scott Oldham, town of Ellsville. Don Donnell, trustees board. David Willoughby.
- Township Trustee Board. Jay Thrasher Township Trustee Board. We're here this evening on the second of
- four required hearings to establish a fire protection territory between Eltsville and Richland Township.
- Chief, I'll turn this over to you and we'll go from there.
- Good evening. I'm Kevin Patton fire chief with the Ellisville Fire Department We've got just a few slides
- we can go through a kind of give you a little history of the fire department and where we're at today
- We've got a total of 17 full-time firefighters that includes the administration staff and then were
- Supplemented by a few volunteers volunteers. I'm just not very
- anymore we don't get a lot and then a lot of part-time that fill in when there's somebody off sick vacation
- so on we have two stations one here on the highway in Ellsville the other ones on Curry Pike crossing
- the old wetter off you remember where that is it's been there since 1971 and was paid for by the Westside
- industries completely there was no tax money that went into that and
- Basically the territory we're looking at forming is the town of Elksville and Richland Township
- The only part of Richland Township that's not included in that is the portion that was annexed by the
- city of Bloomington. There's a small corner down the southeast corner of the township. Some of the services
- we provide obviously is fire, SQEMS. About 70% of our calls are medical in nature.
- We have a community risk reduction program that's really taken off. It covers a lot of fire extinguisher
- training, CPR programs, things of that nature. And on the top right, those are the calls, 911 calls
- that we get for the last five years. And in the last five years, we've had 102% increase to the run volume.
- growth, people driving through the area, things of that nature. Listing every fire station that's in
- Monroe County, including the city of Bloomington, we're actually the second and third busiest stations
- in the county. Generally, on a structure fire, you know, a house fire, commercial building, things of
- that nature, we want a minimum of 15 to 20 people on site just
- There's a lot of a lot of items that are taking place and it helps with the safety as well as provides
- us better opportunity to do rescue. Where does our current funding source come from? The town of Ellisville
- in Richland Township. Like I said, we have a contract with Richland Township. It's been in place since
- 1947. The 26th annual budget that's
- what we're currently operating on the 2789. That's just taking the standard 4% increase the state gives
- that's what the numbers look like. Just real quick just so you guys have an idea of what it cost outfit
- a fireman. You know pair of gloves $100.00 portable radio little over $6,000. Fire engine.
- 1.2 million. We just ordered one of those and it should be in this fall. Richland townships paying for
- that through the contract. An aerial fire truck, $2.3 million. The Westside Tiffs are paying for that
- completely. Generally our fire trucks, we try to the fire trucks, the pumpers, aerials, things of that
- nature, the large vehicles we try to replace on a 20 year rotation.
- Some of them get a little more use, so we'll replace them a little sooner than that. The fire station
- on current pipe, like I said, it's 50 years old. When it was put in place, we were running 150 calls
- a year, and there was one firefight I wanted to do. Currently, there's three over there, so it gets
- kind of synthetic. Challenges with the current system, just call vying is the main thing.
- decrease in volunteerism and good little note down in the bottom you'll see we're protecting over $1.8
- million of assessed value between the two. This would help obviously if territory is formed that helps
- both entities would have a seat at the board. It structures the tax rate and everything.
- together and just makes a lot smoother for not only the fire department but for both municipalities.
- And that's all I've got on that. If you don't have any questions, questions, you can move on. Which
- one is the page? The top one?
- You can try it. It might just be me. Receivers. And if you need me to. Page Sansone with paper Tilly.
- So I'm going to present a brief financial overview or a brief overview. I'm sorry of the financial impact
- of this proposed fire territory.
- So a fire territory is something that is statutorily allowed, so two taxing units can...
- taxing units that touch boundaries can come together to form a fire territory. So that could be townships,
- municipalities, or fire districts. Generally, the reason why a fire territory would be established is
- to create a sustainable and dedicated revenue source to fund fire services. Also, it does spread the
- cost of fire services over the entire tax base so that everyone pays equally for fire services.
- By generating additional revenue, it could improve operational efficiency and response times and enhance
- firefighter safety and resources. It is also helpful to meet the growing demands of the community.
- So as was mentioned before, there are four meetings that are required. Three of those four meetings
- are official public hearings. This is the second of three public hearings. The next one will be held
- on March 11th. On March 25th, it will be a public meeting. However, it will primarily be for the adoption
- in both legislative bodies. The Township Board and the Town Council will each
- vote as to whether they're going to approve or deny the fire territory. If it is approved, we will send
- a packet of information to the Department of Local Government Finance asking permission to levy property
- taxes in the first year, which is 2027. So as was mentioned, this would be Ellitsville Town and Richland Township
- One of those two units has to be designated the provider unit. So in this case, that will be the town
- of Ellisville, and that just simply means that entity will levy property taxes, collect the revenue,
- and pay all of the bills. We are assuming that the property taxes will begin in 2027 should this pass.
- So just to kind of illustrate where we are right now,
- Each entity does collect revenue specifically for fire purposes. Ellisville generates about 1.56 million.
- Most of that's coming out of the general fund, but there's also some public safety revenue and economic
- development revenue that goes towards fire. Richland Township generates about $1 million, and most of
- that is through revenue, I'm sorry, through property tax, but then also local income tax.
- The tax rates currently, Richland Township levies 14 cents for fire services, while Ellisville,
- the town, levies .1862, so almost 19 cents. The proposed budget, we have it itemized on two pages. We'll
- go to the second page. The budget is divided into two.
- kind of categories. One is operating that would take care of the day-to-day operating costs. So the
- estimated budget for 2027 is 3.8 million for operating. And then the fire territory is allowed to have
- an equipment replacement fund, which is set at a maximum rate of 3.33 cents. So that should generate
- about 506,000 a year that can be accumulated or spent on fire equipment and apparatus and housing.
- So both of those budgets combined is 4.3 million. So how do we fund that? We're gonna fund that with
- property tax primarily, about 4.1 million in property tax if you add that equipment replacement fund.
- And then we also have some access to some vehicle excise tax. So that's about 207,000. So all in all,
- there's 4.2 million and as I said previously,
- There's a budget of about 4.3, but we do know that there can be some tax credits that will be issued
- to taxpayers because of this fire territory. So the fire department will just need to take that into
- consideration. If we do end up getting about 200,000 in tax credits, which will be a reduction of the
- property tax dollars, they will have to adjust their budget accordingly. So at least right now we're
- thinking that the funding that will be available
- is about $4,167,000. So if we divide that by each $100 of the tax base, we get a tax rate of 0.2744
- in the first year. In the future years, that property tax levy is going to grow by a statewide levy
- growth factor. We're just currently estimating it to be 4%.
- I need to let you know that there is some debt outstanding right now on an aerial ladder truck. The
- remaining balance is approximately 1.8 million. The township has no outstanding debt and this debt will
- not be carried over to the fire territory. It will be taken care of by the town until it matures on
- August 1st, 2029. As far as the,
- Property tax liability impact we have to look at how does it impact the district rate? So we have three
- different taxing districts that are impacted here We have Richland Township and the district tax rate
- is 1.64 Then we have the town of Ellisville two different taxing districts for Ellisville The tax rate
- though is pretty close. It's two dollars and nine cents roughly They vary just a little bit
- But since Richland Township's district rate is lower, the impact would be a little bit higher
- than Ellitsville. So we're looking at an impact of 7.9% for Richland Township and 4.2% for the two taxing
- districts in Ellitsville. So how does that impact an average residential home value? Although I have
- three home values on this page, I'm just gonna cover the average, which is 293,500.
- So if that home is located in Richland Township, the impact is $16 a month or about $193 for the year.
- If that home is sitting in Ellitsville, there is no impact because that particular home value is hitting
- the tax caps. So that home value can't pay any more than what it's paying now. And because Richland
- Township's tax rate is so low right now,
- It would take a $1.1 million home value for that to hit the tax caps. In Ellisville, it's only $228,000.
- That's why the average home value is at the tax caps, because it's above that $228,000. We have some
- examples of some other properties. We'll just look at a $300,000 residential rental property, which
- is in the 2%.
- tax cap classification so in Richland Township none of those properties are at the tax cap so that $300,000
- residential rental property would see a $32 a month increase or about $390 for the year but in Alexville
- that property is at the tax cap so there will not be an increase for those properties.
- The last thing I need to tell you about is the impact to overlapping taxing units. It's required that
- I cover that information. So what we're talking about, number one, is the property tax cap.
- So as I mentioned, we do have three different property tax cap classifications here in Indiana. So for
- residential homesteads, you should not pay more than 1% of your gross assessed value. So the example
- is if you have a $100,000 home value,
- You're capped out at $1,000. However, there are some taxing districts that have a referendum tax rate
- where the voters approve like a school or a library to issue debt to cover a project. And if you approve
- that through referendum, you have to pay that in addition to the tax cap. Other residential, rental,
- agricultural land that sits on the 2% tax cap class. So it's capped at 2% of the gross assessed value
- and then everything else.
- which is primarily commercial and industrial is capped at 3%. So I do have copies up here if anybody's
- interested, but these are how the tax credits are anticipated to be impacted with all the overlapping
- taxing units. Primarily what we see here is that the fire territory is gonna be impacted. The fire territory
- doesn't exist now, so if it is created, yes, they will have a circuit breaker impact.
- Very minor impacts on the other units within the county Local income tax is also going to be impacted
- because it is distributed to taxing units based on how much they levy and property tax so
- will levy more property tax with this fire territory. So we do need to figure out how this is going
- to impact the distribution of local income tax, but it's distributed a year in arrears basically. So
- it looks at the previous year's levy. So the first year the local income tax would be impacted by the
- fire territory is 2028 because the levy doesn't come on until 2027. So this
- chart shows what the impact will be. No change in 2027. But then in 2028, Richland Township and Ellisville
- should see an increase in their local income tax because even though Richland Township is not the provider
- unit and they're not levying any tax for fire territory, the statute permits you to get a share of that
- as far as this distribution calculation.
- Richland Township should see an increase of about 275,000 in local income tax, and then Ellisville should
- see an increase of 291,000, but it does take away from the shares from the other entities within the
- county. So it's just a reallocation of local income tax. And that's the certified shares local income
- tax. Public safety local income tax is only distributed to the county unit and the municipalities.
- Ellitsville should see an increase in their share of 288,000, but it will come from Monroe, County,
- Unit, Bloomington, and a little bit from Steinsville. Again, just a reallocation. And then Edit is not
- impacted at all, because in this county, there's only a few counties in the state, but in this county,
- Edit is distributed based on population. So no impact due to the fire territory.
- And then the final revenue that could be impacted is the vehicle excise tax, because that is also distributed
- based on how much each unit levies, and there's not a year lag time. So this would be the tax that you
- pay when you register your vehicle at the BMV.
- And again, it's distributed based on how much you levy So if you're levying more like Ellisville would
- be in this case then Ellisville should see an increase and in that tax and also some additional tax
- would go to the fire territory, but as you can see it comes from a share of everyone else's It just
- again as a redistribution of revenue And that concludes my presentation Thank you so much questions
- Any other comments from you, chief? Move now to public questions and comments. Each individual is limited
- to three minutes. Anyone wishing to have time at the podium, come forward now and or raise your hand
- if you're on Zoom. Seeing no one rise in chambers, no one online. Come back to council for final comments
- for this evening. Anyone? I've got one question.
- to the chief. And I think I've been told this, but I can't remember exactly. But what happened? Does
- the fire territory stay the same if the reorganization becomes law? The way what the public is going
- to see will stay the same. The governmental part of it, the territory will
- basically go away and it will be part of the consolidation. Okay, that's what I thought, but I wanted
- to clarify that. But the layperson won't see any difference in service or anything. The reason for that
- is we'll go through two governmental bodies that allows the four-hour territory to one overall governmental
- body so it's no longer allowed and no longer needed. That's all I have. And to be clear, they won't
- get the taxes, what the impacts you said to the taxes, all those
- It's either or. If the reorganization plan, that plan is what will guide your property taxes. If that
- fails and this goes, this is what will guide your property taxes. Any other questions, comments, council?
- Seeing none, we'll stand adjourned.