In the town council of Eltsville, Indiana Monroe County is a joint board looking toward the agenda this
evening which deals with consolidation First we'll do roll call the members. So we'll start to one edge
I guess Shipboard David Willoughby Richland Township board
Don Durnall, Richland Township Board. Scott Oldham, Town of Ellitsville. William Ellis, Town of Ellitsville.
Traverse Mayor, Town of Ellitsville. I will now certify that there is a quorum present from both councils
so we can move forward with that. We'll now begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. Stand please. I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Do a new prayer. Thank you for
this day, and we thank you for the time you have allotted for us to come together like this and try
to view what it is you have to do with our community. May all these receiving
Move to the Baker Tilly slide presentation on proposed reorganization and fiscal impact analysis between
Richland Township and Towneville
Hello, I'm Brandon Scribes with Baker Tilly. I'm gonna go through the same presentation that we went
through last time. Please interrupt me if you have any questions at all. Happy to answer them as we
go rather than waiting till the end. Can you all hear me okay if I step back? Okay. So the purpose of
the reorganization, as all of you know, is to improve efficiencies, enhance the services,
We want to be the town to be more flexible, improve the planning, and support future growth. Really,
this is a forward-looking approach that's supposed to make things easier and more collaborative. What's
being proposed is that Richland Township and the town of Ellitsville join to be one unified government.
And if this becomes effective through voter approval in November, then it would begin as of January
1 of 2027.
So as of today, right now there's two separate units, there's Ellisville Town and there's Richland Township.
These two units have separate budgets, separate administrations. They provide separate services for
the most part. What would be under the proposed structure is the Richland Township and Ellisville would
join as one government and they would have one budget and one governing body and limit administrative
duplication. So getting more into the governance structure,
If past this new reorganized town would become a seven member town council rather than the current five,
the township government would be dissolved as we know it today. And representation would still be maintained
for both what is currently Ellisville and what is currently Richland Township. And we were calling them
in the reorganized structure, we're calling them the urban and rural areas.
The services provided would be the same overall services. You've got your public safety, roads, parks,
planning and zoning, and then township assistance that is at the Richland Township level would now be
called public assistance, but it'd be providing the same services as are provided now by the township.
Under the two service areas, again, we're calling them urban and rural. Urban is Ellitsville, and then rural is
outside of Elitsville or Richland Township. The urban district is current town boundaries and they would
get full municipal delivery. Rural district is the former township and the services are tailored to
lower density rural areas. But we'll get more into the details of that here in a few slides.
Or this slide. So this slide is touching on the tax base that is used to come up with
property taxes this isn't necessarily how the services will work so the first services are police debt
service and cumulative that's over just the current town boundaries debt services that way because the
township taxpayers are not going to be paying for debt that currently exists under the town and the
cumulative funds will be based off of that as well police will be taxed over the current town of Ellitsville however
the entire reorganized area would be receiving the police service in this case. Same with fire, well,
fire parks in the general administration, that's taxed over the entire consolidated area, and the entire
area would receive those services. And public assistance is then broken out. That, again, is the township
assistance. Everyone would receive that, but it's broken out because
Bean Blossom, there's a portion of Ellisville that's Bean Blossom, they would get township assistance
from Bean Blossom Township. So why do we do two districts? This is to match taxes with the level of
service being provided, and it allows phased-in growth and expansion, it preserves the rural character
that the township currently has, and it also supports long-term infrastructure planning.
So some of the updates to the services for public safety. The plan is to increase police staffing and
fire staffing to allow for better response time and also to just maintain the good response times that
there are now and also to address the growing service demand. As you can imagine, you're adding in an
entire township to the town. There's gonna be a growing service demands for planning and development.
It is to unify the planning and zoning authority and to have consistent land use policies for the entire
reorganized area. Also would allow for an updated comprehensive plan and unified development ordinance.
And it just supports coordinated growth throughout the entire area with with the one reorganized unit
for roads and infrastructure.
Obviously, there would be expanded responsibility of the town, because now they have all the township
roads to care for. They would be using town crews and potentially contracted services until they can
build up to where they will be able to cover it all on their own. And this would be funded by revenues
like MBH, gas taxes, and wheel taxes. On to the other two services. Township services, which is referring
to, again, that township assistance or public assistance,
That department within the newly organized town would provide the township financial assistance, cemetery
maintenance, as well as community services. And it is anticipated that the staff at the township level
would transition into the town. Lastly is utilities and stormwater. There's no immediate changes expected.
The existing providers are gonna remain the same, but there's gonna be a focus on coordination and long-term planning.
Here's a summary of the expected staffing changes based off of the proposed reorganization. As you can
see, the biggest increases to staffing are to fire and police, and that is because the demand for service
is going to increase. There's also a few other departments that are seeing positions added, and that's
just because with the higher population, the larger amount of streets to cover, there's just gonna be
a little bit of
additional responsibility, which results in the need for additional staff. Excuse me. So the summary
of the financial impact. This, we're on slide 15 for anybody following along on paper. This is the breakdown
of property tax levies and property tax rates for both the town of Ellitsville and Richland Township.
You can see that Ellitsville has a
current levy of three point three million dollars approximately three point three and The township of
Richland has one point two million dollar levy that accounts to about a sixteen cent tax rate for Richland
and a sixty one sixty two cent tax rate for Ellisville And the town
Does have some data like I mentioned earlier The township taxpayers will not be responsible for paying
the debt and liabilities so that property tax Is not going to be taxed over the taxpayers in the current
Richland Township, which will then be the rural area of Ellsville And just to repeat myself the existing
town debt will not be transferred to Township residents. That's that's an important factor in our opinion
So financial overview, currently the total budgeted operating expenses for both the township and the
town is about $8.4 million. Based on some changes, which the changes are some cost reductions because
you're unifying one government. There's also on the other side the additions because you have more demand
for services. The total estimated budget for the reorganized town would be $11.3 million.
And again, the focus is reducing administrative duplication and to invest in public safety and roads
and infrastructure. This is just to show future years if the town were to reorganize. This is showing
that based off of what's being proposed with expected revenues and expected budgets that it could be
funded. The very bottom line is the estimated change in fund balance.
which shows that each year the the new proposed reorganized town is able to function healthily. So post
reorganization this is the numbers behind what I said earlier when it comes to the services being provided.
So the total property tax levy estimated property tax levy for the reorganized town is about six point
one million dollars. The tax rates for
What is over the urban area in the rural area is different. And that is because again you're kind of
matching the tax rates with the service levels. You'll see that in the rural area there's no debt being
taxed on the rural area and that's because that's town debt. And then the police is just being taxed
on the urban area. However I want to reiterate that all of the reorganized town would be receiving police
services from the town of Ellisville.
So how, what a property tax payer probably wants to know is how this is gonna impact your property tax
bill. That's a great question. This is the initial estimated impact. So Richland Township would see
almost a 7% increase, while Ellitsville is about a 4%. Now I say that with the caveat being that some
properties are gonna be at the property tax caps,
If you're already at the property tax caps or if the increase gets you to the property tax cap, then
you're not gonna see that full increase in your property tax bill. And if that's confusing, we're gonna
get into that more detail so you can kinda better understand how that works. So what does this mean
for taxpayers? These are just some examples and they're based on a range. So a residential property
in Richland Township
Assuming the residential property property is between one hundred and fifty and three hundred thousand
dollars they would see a five to twelve dollar increase on a monthly basis while Ellitsville town is
about three to five dollars. Again that's depending on the property tax caps for properties in Ellitsville
properties residential properties over two hundred eighty five thousand dollars are already at the caps
so they wouldn't see that increase.
for 2% property or farmland and residential rentals. If the range was between $500,000 and a million,
Aboriginal Township would see $18 to $89 in an increase per month, while Ellsville Town would see $6
to $29. And then commercial or 3% property would be anywhere between $47 and $94 a month and $36 and
$72 a month. The reason 3% increases are more
is because the cap is higher for those and they're less likely to hit the caps. So how can you as an
individual taxpayer estimate the impact on your property tax bill? The first step is to get your current
property tax bill in hand. If you don't have that, you can find it on the Monroe County property tax
portal. After you have your tax bill, you can see what area you're in.
If you're in Richland Township, you're going to apply a 6.9% increase. If you're in one of
the two Ellitsville areas, it's 3.5% to 4%. So based off of that, let's say that you lived in Richland
Township and your current annual property tax bill was $1,800. You would take the 6.9% increase times
that $1,800 property tax bill, and that comes out to about $124 annually with about a $10 a month impact.
That being said that calculation could be impacted by property tax caps and we're going to get into
that a little more. So property tax caps are what limit a property owners amount they pay in property
taxes for 1% properties. You take 1% times the gross assessed value and something that's important to
know is the cap
If we're using 1% the cap is based off of gross assessed value while your property tax bill is based
off of net assessed value which means deductions are taken out before applying the tax rate. And then
residential rental and farmland is 2% cap and then commercial and business property is 3% cap. That's
why I mentioned that some of those commercial properties probably aren't at the caps. It's because it's
3% instead of the lower 1%.
So what exactly do these property tax credits mean for taxpayers and for the local government for taxpayers?
It means the tax bill is limited to the tax cap So you may only see a small increase or no increase
at all based off of the proposed reorganization And for the local government it means that they whatever
those credits are it means that they don't receive that in property tax revenue and
And this could also impact other units in the district, like the school, library, county, et cetera.
This chart is showing the estimated impact to other units within the taxing district. So the first column
is the 2026 certified circuit breaker or property tax credits. The second one is
estimated for 2027 without reorganization. And the orange column is estimated 2027 with reorganization.
So you'll see here that the biggest impacted unit is Ellisville town expected to see about $145,000
increase in property tax credits. Richlands would actually decrease because Richland is no longer going
to have any property tax
And then some of the other units are also impacted. Any property tax? Yeah. Richland will no longer
be in existence because it will be a unified government. Yeah. Yeah. So obviously their circuit breaker
is going to go down because they don't exist anymore. Here is the estimated change to those same units
going forward. The changes from year to year are going to vary.
depending on the different changes at the state level. These changes include the estimated impacts of
SCA one, which was legislation at the state level. So those are gonna kind of vary from year to year.
Some years they go up, some years they go down, it just depends. And this also assumes that the town's
property tax levy goes up in order to fund the extra demand for services. So what's next?
The next meeting is on June 22nd. There will be a joint public meeting to consider the final approval.
And then going forward, there will be a plan submitted to the DLGF and deadline for the public to submit
questions to Monroe County. The DLGF will provide comments on the plan that is submitted to them. And
then if it gets to that point, the public vote would be in November. And if approved by the public vote,
this would become
Effective the beginning of next year It's important to note with the vote that it must be approved by
both town voters and township voters The majority approval is both for the both of them separately So
key take key takeaways again, this is to create a coordinated local government one unified and
trying to get rid of duplication of services, improve public safety and road maintenance services, and
just position the community for infrastructure investments and future growth. That's all I got.
Thank you. Thank you. So this board takes us down to number seven on the agenda, which is discussion
of the reorganization plan for Richland Township and Town of Ellesville.
Is that correct? Those two were combined, three and four, or five and six. I'm happy to give a synopsis
of the plan. As you stated at the beginning of the meeting, this is the first of two public meetings
with regard to the proposed plan of reorganization. And this evening is a public hearing on that plan.
And as I think the boards and hopefully everyone in the audience knows, this is a project that quite
a few people have worked on since last fall.
The reorganization committee passed a draft plan on April 8th. And so that plan is up for discussion
this evening. And as Mr. Scruggs pointed out, if the reorganization plan is approved, it will go to
the voters in November. The reorganized town of Ellisville will include the entirety of Richland Township
with the exception of that small corner in the southeast corner of the township, which is annexed by
the city of Bloomington.
The reorganization would be effective January 1st, 2027. The reorganized town would have the duties
and authority of both the town and also the township. You will have all of the normal players that you
would expect to find in a town government. So you're gonna have the council members, you're gonna have
a clerk, you're going to have a town manager. The township government will be dissolved. As Mr. Scruggs
pointed out, the debt incurred by the town will stay with the town residents. It does not get shifted
to the township residents.
Your new town council will be expanded to seven members as of the effective date. That includes five
current board members plus the two township board members who get the most votes in the next election.
They will fill the at large seats. So what you'll have is five districts, which is what you have now.
And you will also have two at large seats and the council members will be elected by the voters of the
entire town. You will have an advisory board, which consists of five members.
which will all be township residents. All laws currently in effect for the town of Ellisville will remain
in effect. The town will provide the services, the planning and zoning, the parks, the fire and police,
the township assistance. You'll have the two service districts, which are taxing districts, not zoning
districts, that's the urban and the rural. And as the rural areas start to become more urban, there's
a process whereby the town council can pass an ordinance shifting those urban areas that are
sorry, rural areas that are becoming urbanized, you can shift those. The plan is also to update the
UDO and the comp plan as soon as possible to account for the properties in Richland Township. You will
still have a seven member plan commission and a five member Board of Zoning Appeals. The park board
will remain the same. And with regard to township assistance, as I stated, the former township trustees
duties, which includes cemetery maintenance,
burial assistance, the food pantry, those types of things will be shifted to the town, and you will
have a new position created within the town for that person will take on the duties that the township
trustee formerly had. So that's just a real short synopsis of the plan, but I'm happy to answer any
questions.
Quick question just for clarity and then we'll turn it over questions from the board You mentioned there's
a small section in Richland Township of that is currently managed by the city of Bloomington Just so
everyone understands should this go through? The city Bloomington will retain that portion that they've
already annexed but they cannot anytime in the future Annex into the new Ellsville because they're both
municipalities so it's not like where Bloomington can annex in or Ellsville can annex out at this point
time should this consolidation take effect that prohibits the city and
from annexing anything in the newly formed town slash city as it were, correct? Yes. Okay. Questions
from the board and then we'll open it up to the public. I actually have one for the attorneys. On the
agenda and in the plan, they were saying that we would be voting tonight. My understanding was tonight
is just a public hearing where there would be no votes. I just wanted to make that clarification, so.
Thank you.
on the agenda, the resolutions is because technically this meeting is the first reading of both of those
resolutions. So that's why it's listed on the agenda. But yes, there is no vote. I reassure the public
we had no intention of voting tonight. I had a thought here a week or so ago and actually I ran into
William at the restaurant and I asked him about it. He answered it.
I think it's something that should be brought up. Obviously, the state would like to take all the townships
over, period. And that probably will happen someday, maybe five, 10 years from now. But there also have
been a lot of talk about merging some of the townships that don't have so much money. Like, let's say,
I'll use an example, Bean Blossom.
And it's my understanding that they would merge with an adjoining township if they can. So I asked him
about that. And then also Washington township, I said, well, where would that go? And he told me,
he said, it could go to Bean Blossom, Richland township would be three or Washington township could
go to Bloomington.
So I wondered how that would affect everything. And maybe I'll let William explain it. Basically,
he said, if it happens, nothing would change immediately, but am I telling it right? So that would kind
of, really would depend on what the state structure of that would do. I mean, but what we're talking
about for the reorganization here, it would not impact what we're talking about here.
but there will be state statutes, again, correct me if I'm wrong, that will guide on how that would
have to be on how they come in. But the one thing I do know is that usually, if that happens, I've not
seen any talk of it being a public vote like this is. It would have to be something that, you know,
it's from the state level, they're dissolved, but if you wanna, am I correct on that?
Okay. So the way that House Bill 1370 ended up passing is that the each township has to have four points
or more showing that they cannot maintain what they have and they need to merge with another township
or municipality. So if
the reorganization does not go through and Bean Blossom does not have, you know, they have their four
points or more, then they will have to merge with Richland Township. And at that point, then Washington
could either go with Bloomington or they could go to Richland. If reorganization does go through and
Bean Blossom has those four points, they will not have an option except to join into the town of Ellitsville.
That will be what they are forced to do by the state.
they not join with another township that they touch? They cannot, they cannot adjoin, they can't join
with Washington. Washington is probably going to have four points. And so you can't, two smaller ones
cannot go together. They have to go with a larger one. Do they go to Van Buren, do they touch? No. Then
question, and again, anybody that knows better than this, please chime in. One, it would not be a public
vote. No, it's the state says that's how it is.
They would just assume whatever tax rate that municipality has. It's my understanding. So how is the
question? Would we have an option at that point or is that's that's that question. I do not know the
answer to the ability for either this current town or the consolidated town to say no. I can speak to
part of that.
Everything that's been said is correct. It is a scoring system. Laws can and do change. And so,
over time, I can't sit here today and tell you what that statute may or may not look like a year from
now. And the legislature can always amend it, and that situation might be one of those examples. But
I don't think it implicates the decision before you hear in this process, but I think it's smart to
look ahead and look at all the what-ifs.
Does that answer your question? Yeah, I just thought it should be brought up because, you know, I thought
about it and I'm sure it's going to happen. And this process is pretty much public driven in the sense
that, you know, there's kind of a back and forth on tax rates and services and stuff. I've not seen
anything like that in the current law. If that's done, so, I mean,
Public comment now That way we can take care of that portion of it before we get an announcement future
dates and things like that Okay, we will open it up to public comment again. Remember this is a comment
You have a three minutes at the podium Use your time as you see fit and we'll go from there. So if there's
anyone who wishes to make a comment on a
Potential consolidation between Richland Township and the current town of Elksville, please approach
the lectern sign in and you'll three minutes will begin Good evening
I'm Jill Thurman, Director of the Greater Ellisville Area Chamber of Commerce. First, thank you to the
town council and the Richland Township Board for your service, for your time, effort, and thoughtful
work you put into making decisions on behalf of our community. We appreciate your dedication to Ellisville
and its future. Also, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. On behalf of the Greater Ellisville
Area Chamber of Commerce,
After careful consideration, our board of directors recommends a yes vote on placing the proposed
reorganization of the town of Ellisville and Richland Township on the November ballot. At this time,
our support is specifically for allowing the question to go before the voters so the community can decide.
We believe this is an important conversation about the future of Ellisville and that residents
and businesses should have the opportunity to review the proposal, ask questions, and make informed
decisions. As an organization committed to growth, collaboration, and the long-term success of our community,
we believe allowing the public to weigh in through the ballot process is the appropriate next step.
Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.
Good evening. My name is Eric Spoonmore. I am president of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce.
You get to hear a lot of chambers of commerce tonight. I'm also a resident of Richland Township. And
while I'm speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce personally as a resident, I also agree with
this entire statement. So just wanted to let you all know the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce
supports placing the proposed reorganization
of the town of Ellitsville and Richland Township on the November ballot. The residents and businesses
most directly affected deserve the chance to review the plan, ask questions, and make an informed decision
about their community's future. We place significant value on the perspective of the greater Ellitsville
area Chamber of Commerce, a trusted regional partner with firsthand knowledge of the community it serves.
Its decision to support allowing this question
to go before voters reflects the importance of giving the public a direct voice in a matter that touches
local governance, services, planning, and growth. Ellisville and Richland Township are important parts
of Monroe County's broader economic vitality. Many of our member businesses, which we have over 900
of, have owners, employees, customers, and families connected to these communities. How these communities
grow and govern themselves matter
to the region. And so our position at this stage is straightforward, to support a transparent public
process and let voters decide in November. We encourage residents, businesses, and community stakeholders
in Ellitsville and Richland Township to stay engaged, become informed, and to participate. Thank you
all. Appreciate your service.
My name is Harry Ferris. I live in the southeast corner of Richland Township. And really, I have a question.
My curiosity is about this annexation. What area of the southeast part of the township is subject to
annexation by the city that was mentioned? It's already been done. Yeah, years ago, wasn't it, Darla?
Yes, it's not a new area.
The third and Curry area is where they're talking about, correct? Right. It's already in that area.
It's already in the city of Bloomington. If yours is not, then you can't get annexed if this goes through.
Okay. But yeah, we're talking about stuff that had been done years, not the current annexation thing.
That has been the courts. Not the one that's pending. Right. That is dead for Richland Township and
this would prevent you from
being annexed. I would set up a border that yeah, the city couldn't. That is correct. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else? Good stuff up. Hello all. Carl Thurman. I'm a business owner and
historic downtown area and also a resident of that area. And I've heard a lot of good comments and discussion
on this. And I think if we're gonna practice being a government for the people and by the people, then
this should go before the voters and let the constituents decide where we go from here. Thank you for
your time.
Good evening. My name is Noel Conyer and I'm coming to you this evening as the vice chair of the Monroe
County Republican Party. The Monroe County Republican Party supports a yes vote to move the proposed
governmental reorganization between the town of Elstville and Richland Township to the ballot for public
consideration. Republicans have long supported efficient government, fiscal responsibility, accountability
to taxpayers, and strong local control.
This proposal reflects those principles by reducing duplication of government services and giving voters
the chance to decide on what kind of government structure makes the most sense for our community. At
a time when taxpayers are asking harder questions about transparency, spending, and local decision making,
conversations about improving government should not be shut down before the public has a chance to weigh
in. What makes this proposal different is simple. It puts the decision where it belongs with the voters.
People across Monroe County have seen plenty of decisions move forward even after residents show up,
ask serious questions, express concerns, yet they're handed decisions that fail to represent that. This
reorganization process has incorporated public input from the beginning, address concerns, which is
exactly why this process should be allowed to continue. The voters of Richland Township and Ellisville
deserve the opportunity to review the proposal and make the final decisions for themselves at the ballot box.
allowing the reorganization plan to move forward does not decide the outcome. It simply allows the public
to make the decision instead of having it stopped by a small group of elected officials before voters
get their say. The Monroe County Republican Party encourages our elected officials to respect the process
and allow the public to decide the issue at the ballot box. Thank you.
Richard Dillman, McNeely Street in the township. One question, currently my tax bill for 2026,
I give $1,500 for 2026 to the county. What is the percentage of that money that's gonna come to this
reorganized entity after this if it goes through?
I'm telling you, that's what the township people need to hear. Well, I think that the tax increase would
be what they stated, 6.9%. And that includes, as a result of reorganization, your tax bill would increase 6.9%.
Well, let's back up just a little bit. And forgive me, sir, for putting words in your mouth, so correct
me. He's talking, your entire property bill is $1,500, is that what you're saying? No, my entire property
bill is 4,000. Okay, but you have 1,500 of a dose.
1500, it goes to the schools. This is money that goes to the county, the county debt. And currently,
of course, I included in that 1500, the township and the township debt. So that would come out of there.
But still, my concern is I'm paying right now, and you are too, for road service, sheriff's, judicial,
on and on and on. There's gotta be a, whoever passed this law through had to figure out that some of
that money was gonna come to this new reorganized entity. It can't just all keep going to the county.
Can you potentially show him how to work that here in just a few minutes? If you'll get with him, he'll
show you how to do it based upon property tax for you. But also I think I understand that 1500, you're
saying with this,
In a sense, how much less are we paying to the county going to here? Is that kind of what you're? Exactly.
How much next year, if this goes through of that $1,500, let's just say how much is Monroe County going
to get out of that next year if it goes through? If I'm not mistaken, it would still get the 1,500 because
we still pay the same county rate currently. The city of Bloomington pays the same county rate.
Okay, you know, and I bring this up, I'm not saying this is bad or good. No, I'm just saying, there's
gotta be some pluses here for the people in the township. Well, there's actually, there's quite a few.
And then just comments. I assume Ellisville doesn't do deficit spending today. No. And nor does the
township. No. So we should be able to go into the reorganization without a tax increase.
I mean, let's live like we do with our own paychecks, with our own checkbooks. If we got the money,
we don't spend it. We are picking up more services though. Exactly. So that's hence there will be. And
I think you're gonna get more tax dollars than you projected because your $300,000 is low in Ritsland
Township, I think. Probably. I mean, right now, if you take that $1,500,
times the 6,400 parcels that are in Richland Township, that's $10 million. Right, but that still will
not come to the town of Ellitsville. And that's what I can't agree with, although I don't have any control
over it. As far as I'm concerned, we only get a couple of county trucks. Right, and that's what we're
trying to prevent because you will get services from the town of Ellitsville. I know I'll get service,
I'll get good road service, but that's it.
I live on Union Valley Road, so I'm in the same boat as you. We will also get a say. Right now, you
and I have nobody at the county level who cares about. I agree with you wholeheartedly. So what we will
get is that in our area, and I don't have the map with me to show, but we will have
somebody from our area that will be on the town council. And so we will be able to go and knock on somebody's
door or call them or email them and say, hey, this is coming up and this is how I feel about it. And
so we'll at least have that opportunity for that. I appreciate that. I just wish there was more positives
out there because I'm afraid you're not going to get enough people to the ballot box. I think it will
come down to do they
trust Monroe County government to guide their future when it comes to public safety and especially land
use? Exactly. Or will they trust people that more align with them? We won't get into that. But anyway,
thank you. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Let's put this down a little bit there. Hello, my name
is Anna Bednarski and I am a resident of the town on Deer Run.
And looking at the report, which I've read, all 43 pages, as well as the fiscal impact, I think today's
presentation, if anyone wants to look at slide 17, because I think there's a really relevant number
there, the budgeted operating expenses for 2026 are 8.4 million for the combined township and town,
if I'm reading that correctly.
The estimated operating expenses in the reorganized town would be eleven point three million dollars.
So that is to me a vast increase in spending and a lot of it is through almost doubling the police force.
and increasing the fire department operating budget which the fire department will be, again if I'm
understanding this correctly, serving the same area that it does now. So I think we need to ask ourselves
as township and town residents about this increase and why it doesn't apply to other areas like education
or other local concerns that we have.
But as a town resident, likely my property taxes will not go up very much. We will likely hit the property
tax cap. The thing that concerns me is one of the justifications being about development. This would,
and again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard that this would increase the size of the town eight
times, eight times geographic area. Is that, am I making that up or?
It takes the entire township right so so at least multiple times what the current town is right and
one of the justifications for the change is to Have more local control of development The only issue
with that is we've heard no assurances for many of the leaders at this table that there are certain
kinds of development that would be Discouraged Factory farming
data centers and the like. So to be honest, I don't feel any safer with a reorganized town and their
development plans versus what we have now. Thank you. If I can address just one thing that she said,
and we're talking about putting money toward education, understand that does not fall to the town. That
is the school corporation.
So any money that goes to the school corporation, they are the ones that take care of the schools. The
town and the school corporation are separate governmental entities and will remain separate governmental
entities. Next, anyone else? Can I make a comment? Sure. So as far as the fire, the increase in the
amount of funds for the fire department, regardless of whether or not the reorganization goes through,
Our fire department is currently working understaffed, and we've got to get them to a safe level. We
always have, they have an agreement, all the local fire departments have an agreement that they will
come and assist, but our guys are working, our guys and gals are working understaffed, and
if the reorganization does not go through, this is still gonna happen with them getting more
firefighters because we will have the fire territory and our taxes in the township are going to go up
to provide for that. So regardless of whether or not reorganization goes through, we've got to get our
fire department back up to where they should be so they can work safely to keep us safe. And one other
thing I do want to address, and thank you. I think we've talked online about data centers and things
like that. I want to make clear to everybody, data centers in any construction
they're gonna have to address before. I don't like saying blanket no to anything because I'd say based
on the plan in front of me. And if the plan in front of me is as negative as some of the stuff I've
heard, absolutely I would not vote for it. Those things would have to be addressed. So it's just kind
of a function of the way I operate and I think the board operates. If somebody can do something with
Minimizes or eliminates the impact to the surrounding areas will consider it. So I don't think we would
Want to make a blanket ban or statement any type of industry and correct me if I'm wrong it would be
incredibly poor public policy for one of us to say absolutely not we'll never do it because Everyone
is free. Everyone is free to come forward and present to something whether or not we would vote for
it or not and
That's a situational thing to sit here and say, until we have passed some type of ordinance that said
we will never have this, and I'm not even sure you could legally do that, you would never have it. You
at least have to consider each proposal as it comes through. All right, I'm a three minute timer. My
name is Andrew Henry. I served on the Rehabilitation Committee. Thank you especially to all the subcommittee
members, many of whom are here, who gave enormous amounts of time and energy to put together
all the information that went into our proposal. I have three main points. I would recommend the book
Strong Towns by Charles Marrone. I've recommended it before. There's a lot of good information in there
about understanding how towns grow and remain strong over time. The reorganization proposal is a trade-off.
Anything involving decisions about government and spending are always trade-offs. There is nothing that
has all upside and no downside. We are weighing different potential options looking into the future.
What Marrone pointed out in his book is how much local knowledge matters. In the process of being on
the committee that put together the proposal, I've learned a ton more about the history of Ellisville
and of Richland Township, the industries, the developments, the school districts, all kinds of things
that I would not otherwise have known. That knowledge is intensely local and I want to keep our options
open to use that local knowledge to make good decisions in the future because we have no idea what challenges
or opportunities will present themselves over the next
20 years. The second thing is I want to see this whole area develop even greater long-term financial
resilience. And that doesn't mean simply that we're trying to make the fastest short-term adjustments
to tax rates or property taxes or staffing, but aiming at attracting a diversified tax base, especially
small and medium-sized businesses that are owned locally that provide
a generous support to the tax base and don't put the same amount of demand on local services like parks,
roads, fire, and police. We can have a much more diverse and strong tax base over time if we plan well
for it. And then I have five kids. The chances that all five of them remain in Ellisville are low.
Not zero, but low. Some of them will probably go other places. But I want Ellisville to be a place that
they don't simply rule out out of hand. That when they're finishing high school,
considering a career, considering getting married, starting a family, that they look at Ellsville and
see opportunities. They see options. And so I look at reorganization and think it is our best current
option to give local control, to have local knowledge, guide local decisions, to build a town and a
future for our kids that I want my kids to be excited to be a part of. So I would encourage you, please
put this before the voters in November or approve it to go to the ballot.
so that everyone has the opportunity to decide the future of our community. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Sir? Good evening, everyone. My name is Mason Greenberg. I am a Realtor. I serve Monroe County.
I sit on the Local Realtors Board Government Affairs Committee. So I've had a pulse on this whole process
for quite a while.
Thank you all for all the effort you've been putting into it. It's very evident you've been losing a
lot of sleep, so thank you for that. I don't have anything specifically prepared, but I wanted to just
share a bit more of a layman's perspective on why this has a really positive light to it, this whole
scenario. Pretty similar to what was just said, I'll just speak a little more commonly
When a municipality is not able to maintain itself financially, it's usually because there aren't enough
taxpayers feeding that municipality. And Bloomington, as a city, has found themselves in that scenario.
And by virtue of that, it seems that Ellisville is now being handed an opportunity to fill the huge necessity
to provide opportunities for new companies to come in and provide more opportunities for people to want
to stay and build a life in Ellisville. I've been an Indiana resident for eight years. I've spent time
working on campus, getting my master's degree at IU, and then now becoming a resident of Ellisville.
just shy of two years, a decade of being here, I've seen some changes in both the housing and just general
economy of Bloomington. And I remember not knowing what the heck Ellisville was eight years ago. And
even in this time period, seeing the growth that Ellisville seems to have around it, the momentum that's
building around here. So I can certainly empathize with
hesitations around what type of businesses might be brought. However, I would encourage all
of our constituents to remember that Ellisville is a resilient town. It's very proud of the culture
and the history that has brought us to where we are now. And I'm proud to call myself a resident here.
And so I'm very excited that this is being brought to a ballot and that the people who live here
are being given a choice to make a pivotal change and hopefully a step forward in what Ellisville is
capable of. Thank you. Thank you so much. Anyone else? Is it okay if I speak from here? Sure. I'm just,
I'm speaking, basically,
as a resident of Richland Township. I was born here a long time ago. On Chester Drive, I've always considered
myself, when somebody asks me where I live, I live in Ellingsville. No matter where I've lived, I've
lived a few different places, but most of it's been in either Ellingsville or Richland Township. And
I can tell you that I really would like, there's been the Township Board, the Town Board,
I think both of them have done a wonderful job in the places I've lived as far as managing our tax dollars
and the way we proceed with municipalities and govern, you know, as a whole. And I think it's a great
opportunity for all of us that live here in Richland Township, because I consider it the people
of Neltsville, obviously, and Richland Township as well. I just want the opportunity to vote yes.
because that's what I'm going to vote for. And so I can really say I'm from Ellisville and my address
will be probably still a Bloomington address, but I will be in the town limits. But I'm proud of what
we've done. If you've been working here in the town for 31 years, we've made great progress. There's
great opportunity and growth. I can remember at 10 o'clock at night when I was a kid,
hardly a car going through town, so I hope you offer me the opportunity to vote come November. Thanks.
I'm Dan O'Rourke, and I've been a Bristol township, an Elksfield resident since 1963.
I'm proud of everything that Ellsfield has done, the way they've progressed. And if anybody's been around
as long as I haven't seen what it was when I got here and what it is now, you wouldn't even recognize
the same thing. I think it's wonderful. I live in a township. However, I am annexing into town. So whatever
happens here, I'm going to be in town anyway. But I think no matter which side of this you're on, if
you're for it or against it,
the only fair thing is to give everybody the opportunity to vote on it. And to not let the residents
have their say, I think would be totally unfair to not let this go on the ballot. So I would just really
appreciate it if this could go on the ballot and give people the right to say up or down. Thank you,
sir. Thank you. Anyone else?
Anyone wishing to speak? Seeing none, we'll now move forward. Council, do you wanna take opportunity
to comment or do you wanna move forward with the agenda? Move forward. Okay. I would just like to thank
everybody for being here and in the comments. Ms. Brown, how do you wanna proceed? Do we need to read
both of these plans or how are we gonna go for this as far as the things that were essentially on first
reading tonight?
question to the board would be, are there any changes that you would like to see made to the plan, or
are you satisfied with them? If there are any changes, I could make those before the next meeting, but
if you're satisfied with them. Okay, so, all right then. Moving on, is that okay, Scott? Absolutely.
All right, so, as I stated,
There are two resolutions that are up for first reading this evening. The first is resolution 11, 2026,
which is the town council's resolution adopting the plan of reorganization. The township also has a
resolution dated June 22nd, 2026, whereby board adopts the plan of reorganization. And the resolutions
are similar.
or they're identical actually, but they go through the history of how the proposed reorganization got
started. Each resolution states that a cross section of the citizens were appointed to make recommendations
that the town and township directed Baker Tilley to prepare fiscal impact analysis. It goes on to state
when the public hearings were held and when notice was posted in the paper. And then finally, if the boards
Approve the reorganization plan at the next meeting the boards will sign the resolutions and the resolution
the plan will go to the auditor recorder voter registration office DLGF and the clerk of the Monroe
County Circuit Court Questions from the council about those two All right So our next meeting and final
meeting I would assume
is scheduled for June 22nd, 2026. It's a joint public meeting on both of these boards on the plan of
reorganization. The boards may reject it, modify it, or adopt the plan of reorganization at which point
in time it would then be pushed to the voters in November. That meeting is scheduled again for June
22nd, 2026 at 6.45 p.m. Please note the difference in times. Where we've been normally starting at 6.30,
this is 15 minutes later.
Is there any additional public comment before we adjourn the meeting? In addition, council comments.
Town manager, would you like to say anything? No, I wouldn't like to say anything, but I guess I will
anyway. So I think there's a lot of technical aspects to all of this that can be confusing and complex.
You know, it can be misconstrued why this is happening. Originally, the state legislator passed a law
that affected how we did our business as a town. And so we reacted to that. And we, in a business-like
manner, took some good advice, looked into reorganization. I think it should be noted
that we were told right off the bat that there won't be a lot of extra money moved from pot A to pot
B. It's not a money grab. The fact is when this all came down as it is today, the town's in good financial
position. Some of the law or legislation, if you will, the SCA-1, might have affected that in the future
and as we grow,
the services need to grow as well, and that might have been affected as well. With that all said, a
lot of times when there's a problem, people that really will dig in will look for the opportunity in
that problem. There are many opportunities that presented themselves regarding reorganization.
We, as a township in a town, have a cultural identity that's the same. Obviously, we have the same fire
protection. Our kids all go to the same school. Most people, if they don't live in the town boundaries,
they just say they're from Ellisville anyway. They talk about being from the community, and it's usually
said in a manner that's prideful.
We as a local entity, especially Ellisville currently, we have a business friendly attitude when people
come here and wanna build a house or they come here and wanna do a business, a project, we say what
can we do to help? We don't say here's how you're gonna go about it and I think
It reflects in the number of annexations when possible, that a lot of people understand that, and that
by virtue of annexation, they vote to reorganize at that moment. What we're proposing to do now is a
compression of what's gonna happen anyway. I think that
People annex any time they can if they want to build, whatever. And so if they're able to, and so in
10 or 15 years or 20 years, all of this is going to come to pass one way or another. And this compression
of this opportunity because of a problem allows us to maybe get ahead of economic development, which
means business, and the business
People have to have employees the employees have to have somewhere to live and so by having The use
of the whole township which else feels part of by having that Ability to plan for economic development
in a reasonable way allows us to
Present the community with housing opportunities more have housing opportunities and it also allows
businesses won't they won't come here if they can't house or House their employees and it's one of the
reasons that Moreau County is Is lacking in some of the economic development that they've maybe let
get past them so we not only have a good
land use policy that encourages economic development, but we also have really good land that could be
used for businesses or residential. We have IU, Ivy Tech, and all the high schools and schools in the
area. They graduate kids, they educate them, and then they go look
Like Andrea said, a lot of times they have to go look somewhere else to live and thrive because there
isn't housing or there's not economic development that supports their education. So I think we have
an opportunity to change that and retain those kids. A lot of them, they're our own kids, especially
if they come out of high school. And for me, the reason I'm such a big proponent
on this is I have grandkids, and I'd like for them to be here and be part of the future. So anyway,
I just think that there's a lot of opportunity in this reorg. It's going to happen one way or another
through annexation. It's almost a monthly thing where somebody annexes a parcel or a large parcel. There's
some in the works now, and so reorganization just
allows this process to move forward. But above all else, I think the best part of this reorganization
process is it is democratic. You get to vote on it. And so I'm willing to, I think whatever the voters
decide, that's what everybody ought to adhere to. And the fact that it's a democratic process is the
best part of this. And so I appeal to
the township and the town board to vote this through when they can so everybody gets a say. I think
that was the common denominator tonight. So I appreciate our lawyers who have worked on this,
Baker Tilly, the reorganization committee, people have put in a ton of time on this and even had to
worry about
what we're gonna do in the future and decisions that they make or suggestions they make that may be
taken up. It's historic, so there's some stress in all this, and so I really appreciate everybody's
effort in all this, so thank you. Board, have any other comments? If not, I'd like to close with one
very brief statement, if we can. I think I wanna agree, and I don't think, I know I agree with everybody
who says put it before the voters.
Fair thing to do and let's be honest as you've heard this plan unfold and as you've read it for most
of you It doesn't offer anything. You don't have it really doesn't it offers you almost zero But let's
also be honest about that How many of you are gonna need the police department tonight? Hopefully no
one how many of you're gonna need the fire department? Hopefully no one how many of you need your road
plow tonight? Hopefully no one
and we can go on and on and on. We're not promising you anything you don't already have. What we're
promising you is that this board will be responsive to you. All of us live in this area. All of us live
in the considered consolidation area. We're all in this together. For some of you, you're going to benefit
more than others. Some of you, I'll just be honest with you, one away from the city of Bloomington.
You don't want to be annexed. This prevents that. Some of you don't want
a larger body telling you how you can use your land. This prevents that. Some of you will benefit greatly.
Some of you will pay no additional taxes whatsoever. Some of you will pay more. But what it remains
down to is what are you buying for your dollars? You're buying insurance. Simple as that. You are buying
insurance. That if you call 911, Eltsville PD shows up. If you call 911, Eltsville Fire shows up. If
you need your street plow,
Elseville shows up. If you need something done at your house and permission to do something with your
land, you come to this board and ask about it. You don't have to go to somebody far removed from you
that has no accountability whatsoever. You are buying insurance if you vote for consolidation, and that's
all you're buying, and I hope you don't have to use any of it. It's a reason we all have life insurance.
It's a reason all of our houses are insured. That's all you're buying. You're not getting anything you
don't already have. The question is, do you want that insurance on the hook?
for the day you need it. That's my two cents. Anyone else? Seeing nothing further, we'll stand adjourned.