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.