Residents Object To Tax Increase If North Webster-Tippecanoe Township Fire Territory Formed
February 11, 2021 at 5:24 a.m.
Residents Object To Tax Increase If North Webster-Tippecanoe Township Fire Territory Formed
By David [email protected]
The meeting was the first of three public hearings on the possible formation of the fire territory. The next two are Feb. 24 and March 17 at 7 p.m. in the township building, 102 S. Morton St. Both the town council and township board – who were present at Wednesday’s meeting – would have to vote for the fire territory creation at or after the third meeting in order for it to move forward. No decisions were made Wednesday.
North Webster Fire Chief Jeremy Likens said at the October informational meeting, he gave a presentation on the history of the fire department, including how it progressed to forming an EMS service, transformed into a full-time paramedic ambulance service and how the EMS and volunteer fire department combined together. He then presented the challenges and goals for the department.
“When we transformed into a combination of departments ... we thought that we were having a big problem with daytime help here in North Webster. Basically our volunteers,” Likens said.
North Webster does not have a good commercial structure in town for its volunteers to work at, so most volunteers work outside the township and can not respond to calls. “That became a big problem in about 2013,” Likens said.
To help address the issue of a lack of volunteers during the daytime, the EMTs and firefighters were combined into one department. That provided two more people, but there remained another problem: If the ambulance crew was out, that left Likens by himself at the station. The town gave the department some funding for another position during the daytime, and that position remained a few years until it had to be cut to provide funding for a police officer.
“We still have the problem of the ongoing decrease in volunteers. And that is a nationwide trend that everybody is struggling with,” Likens said.
There is a second ambulance in the fire station, but Likens said it’s not staffed because there is no funding.
In 2020, the fire department had a total of 729 EMS and fire runs. That’s up from 666 calls in 2019. Every year, the call volume goes up and that’s putting a strain on the department with having only one ambulance and the crews trying to do two jobs, Likens said.
While the daytime is probably the worst time for lacking volunteers, Likens said they’re starting to see a trend into the evening hours. North Webster has 26 volunteers, but sometimes only one or two are able to show up.
As for the department’s goals, Likens said, “Obviously, our No. 1 goal for this community is to provide the best fire and EMS coverage you can possibly get.”
He acknowledged that taxpayers support the department and no one likes paying taxes, but “the only way we can fix this problem is going to take raising taxes.”
Despite rumors, Likens said he did not want to form the territory to build a new fire station. “That is not the case. That is not the case at all.” While the current fire station is running out of space, the formation of the fire territory “all has to do with manpower. Manpower is what we need to supplement the lack of and decrease of volunteers, to help with the call volume of the ambulance side of it, we need the staffing. That’s the only way I feel that we are going to fix this problem.”
If the fire territory goes through, Likens said, “We will be able to staff both of our ambulances 24/7 with cross-trained firefighter paramedics and firefighter EMTs 24/7. That is one of my major goals with this, is to be able to have that staffing and the manpower.”
Also, in order to do that, he said there’s going to be additional costs. Pay will have to be competitive to get and keep staffing.
“We have a tax cap that we can not go over. I can not do anymore with this budget than I currently do every year. I can not go above the tax cap. So what this territory does, is it re-establishes the tax rate to be able to support and fund the territory’s budget. So it is a mechanism for me to get over that tax cap,” Likens said.
In his proposed budget for the fire territory, Likens put in two additional full-time firefighters/EMS positions per shift and one full-time battalion chief per shift.
One man in the audience asked Likens how much more than what the budget is was he asking for with the fire territory.
“Our budget right now, going into 2021, is just a little over a million. And my operating budget, take away the cumulative fire equipment fund, my operating budget is just a little over $2 million. So it’s about $900,000 more. And all I’m doing is doubling my staffing ... I also had to make sure I had enough in there for overtime, part-time pay, health insurance for more additional staffing,” Likens said, noting that once he sets the fire territory budget with the state, he can’t ever change it except for the 2% that comes from the state. “So I’ve got to make sure I’ve planned enough.”
Paige E. Sansone, CPA with Baker Tilly municipal advisors, reviewed the financial impact analysis for the fire territory. She said Baker Tilly will present the same information at the other two scheduled public meetings. If the town council and township board approve the formation of the fire territory, she said a petition will be sent to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance to ask for a property tax rate and levy to fund the fire territory.
“We basically have one shot at this. Once the property tax levy is established, we can’t go back to the state and ask for more. So that’s why the budget is so very important. It’s really the basis for how we determine the tax rate and the tax levy to fund fire service,” Sansone said.
Tippecanoe Township currently levies a property tax for fire service for the whole area, and if the territory is approved, the township will continue to be the provider unit. As the provider unit, Tippecanoe will be responsible for levying the taxes, collecting the revenue and making payments for the fire department’s operations.
She said the tax bases are an important part for the formation of the territory because the tax base helps determine what the property tax rate needs to be in order to generate enough levy to fund fire services.
For 2021, the tax base for the township and town totals $753,231,848. If the assessed valuation continues to grow, Sansone that helps to keep the tax rate somewhat neutral.
The proposed budget (capital and operating) for the fire territory in 2022 is $2,287,776. The territory also would receive some miscellaneous revenues to help fund it, not just property tax. For 2022, that would include an estimated $109,815 from vehicle excise, $180,000 in EMS fees and $200,000 in local income tax certified shares.
With an estimated $489,815 in miscellaneous revenues, the balance of $1,797,961 would have to be funded from property tax. To generate that nearly $1.8 million, the estimated property tax rate for the territory would need to be $0.2309 per $100 of assessed valuation.
“Your tax bill is based on a district rate. It’s not based on a single rate, like a town rate or a township rate. It’s based on a multitude of rates combined together to make that district rate,” she said, adding that there’s two taxing districts that would be affected – the Tippecanoe Township taxing district and the North Webster town taxing district. The current rates for those are $0.9996 for the township and $1.6472 for the town.
“So, the first thing that the state is going to do is remove the current tax rate for fire services,” she said, which is 7 cents. In its place, they’ll put on the 23 cents. For 2022, that would make the township district rate $1.1588 and the town’s at $1.8064. Any properties not hitting the tax caps in the township will see a 15.9% increase; in the town, the increase would be 9.7%.
After Sansone’s lengthy presentation, former Wawasee School Board member Brian Dawes said, “Every taxpayer, whether they’re in this township or others, have many taxing units that are constantly looking to raise money. We’ve got the school, the library, the police, the fire, the county, the local, state, town, township and the county government – so it’s another government entity – determines the assessment. Taxpayers don’t have any say whether it goes up or down. And so as all of these things continue, it just means the property tax continues to skyrocket.”
He said in his opinion, what needs to happen in the town and township is that everyone needs to help the town get better and more companies then would end up building more neighborhoods.
“That’s the real issue here. We don’t have enough new communities, we don’t have enough new businesses, so it’s growth all around us, but it’s not happening in this area. So until that happens, I’m adamantly opposed to this kind of mindset,” Dawes said, adding that he doesn’t want the tax rate reset. “I think you’re asking for way too much money.”
He said the reason they’re not hitting the tax cap is because the Wawasee School District, for the last 50 years, “has limited our wasteful spending. There’s some of that out there, but compared to Warsaw and some other areas, we don’t have near as much wasteful spending with the school corporations they’ve had.”
Dawes said the referendum for Wawasee got voted down in November “for the exact same reason,” but Wawasee still has nice schools. “It’s 50 years worth of stuff that, in my mind, now you’re trying to take advantage of and I take offense at.”
A woman responded to Dawes’ comments by saying she’d be happy to pay additional taxes to make sure there’s an emergency service response should her daughter be injured.
Township Trustee Chris Francis said the fire territory would increase his annual property tax by $156, but the township is legally bound to provide fire protection and the township has a $140,000 shortfall for fire services.
Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Mike Wilson talked about why Warsaw and Wayne formed a fire territory in 2009 and the benefits of the formation.
Francis later said, “The big thing is, though, and the point I really want to hit is, I completely agree about how much we’re overtaxed. We can discuss that all day long. This boils down to, if I’m going to pick up my phone, if I’m going to call 911, I want somebody there and I want somebody there quick.”
The meeting was the first of three public hearings on the possible formation of the fire territory. The next two are Feb. 24 and March 17 at 7 p.m. in the township building, 102 S. Morton St. Both the town council and township board – who were present at Wednesday’s meeting – would have to vote for the fire territory creation at or after the third meeting in order for it to move forward. No decisions were made Wednesday.
North Webster Fire Chief Jeremy Likens said at the October informational meeting, he gave a presentation on the history of the fire department, including how it progressed to forming an EMS service, transformed into a full-time paramedic ambulance service and how the EMS and volunteer fire department combined together. He then presented the challenges and goals for the department.
“When we transformed into a combination of departments ... we thought that we were having a big problem with daytime help here in North Webster. Basically our volunteers,” Likens said.
North Webster does not have a good commercial structure in town for its volunteers to work at, so most volunteers work outside the township and can not respond to calls. “That became a big problem in about 2013,” Likens said.
To help address the issue of a lack of volunteers during the daytime, the EMTs and firefighters were combined into one department. That provided two more people, but there remained another problem: If the ambulance crew was out, that left Likens by himself at the station. The town gave the department some funding for another position during the daytime, and that position remained a few years until it had to be cut to provide funding for a police officer.
“We still have the problem of the ongoing decrease in volunteers. And that is a nationwide trend that everybody is struggling with,” Likens said.
There is a second ambulance in the fire station, but Likens said it’s not staffed because there is no funding.
In 2020, the fire department had a total of 729 EMS and fire runs. That’s up from 666 calls in 2019. Every year, the call volume goes up and that’s putting a strain on the department with having only one ambulance and the crews trying to do two jobs, Likens said.
While the daytime is probably the worst time for lacking volunteers, Likens said they’re starting to see a trend into the evening hours. North Webster has 26 volunteers, but sometimes only one or two are able to show up.
As for the department’s goals, Likens said, “Obviously, our No. 1 goal for this community is to provide the best fire and EMS coverage you can possibly get.”
He acknowledged that taxpayers support the department and no one likes paying taxes, but “the only way we can fix this problem is going to take raising taxes.”
Despite rumors, Likens said he did not want to form the territory to build a new fire station. “That is not the case. That is not the case at all.” While the current fire station is running out of space, the formation of the fire territory “all has to do with manpower. Manpower is what we need to supplement the lack of and decrease of volunteers, to help with the call volume of the ambulance side of it, we need the staffing. That’s the only way I feel that we are going to fix this problem.”
If the fire territory goes through, Likens said, “We will be able to staff both of our ambulances 24/7 with cross-trained firefighter paramedics and firefighter EMTs 24/7. That is one of my major goals with this, is to be able to have that staffing and the manpower.”
Also, in order to do that, he said there’s going to be additional costs. Pay will have to be competitive to get and keep staffing.
“We have a tax cap that we can not go over. I can not do anymore with this budget than I currently do every year. I can not go above the tax cap. So what this territory does, is it re-establishes the tax rate to be able to support and fund the territory’s budget. So it is a mechanism for me to get over that tax cap,” Likens said.
In his proposed budget for the fire territory, Likens put in two additional full-time firefighters/EMS positions per shift and one full-time battalion chief per shift.
One man in the audience asked Likens how much more than what the budget is was he asking for with the fire territory.
“Our budget right now, going into 2021, is just a little over a million. And my operating budget, take away the cumulative fire equipment fund, my operating budget is just a little over $2 million. So it’s about $900,000 more. And all I’m doing is doubling my staffing ... I also had to make sure I had enough in there for overtime, part-time pay, health insurance for more additional staffing,” Likens said, noting that once he sets the fire territory budget with the state, he can’t ever change it except for the 2% that comes from the state. “So I’ve got to make sure I’ve planned enough.”
Paige E. Sansone, CPA with Baker Tilly municipal advisors, reviewed the financial impact analysis for the fire territory. She said Baker Tilly will present the same information at the other two scheduled public meetings. If the town council and township board approve the formation of the fire territory, she said a petition will be sent to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance to ask for a property tax rate and levy to fund the fire territory.
“We basically have one shot at this. Once the property tax levy is established, we can’t go back to the state and ask for more. So that’s why the budget is so very important. It’s really the basis for how we determine the tax rate and the tax levy to fund fire service,” Sansone said.
Tippecanoe Township currently levies a property tax for fire service for the whole area, and if the territory is approved, the township will continue to be the provider unit. As the provider unit, Tippecanoe will be responsible for levying the taxes, collecting the revenue and making payments for the fire department’s operations.
She said the tax bases are an important part for the formation of the territory because the tax base helps determine what the property tax rate needs to be in order to generate enough levy to fund fire services.
For 2021, the tax base for the township and town totals $753,231,848. If the assessed valuation continues to grow, Sansone that helps to keep the tax rate somewhat neutral.
The proposed budget (capital and operating) for the fire territory in 2022 is $2,287,776. The territory also would receive some miscellaneous revenues to help fund it, not just property tax. For 2022, that would include an estimated $109,815 from vehicle excise, $180,000 in EMS fees and $200,000 in local income tax certified shares.
With an estimated $489,815 in miscellaneous revenues, the balance of $1,797,961 would have to be funded from property tax. To generate that nearly $1.8 million, the estimated property tax rate for the territory would need to be $0.2309 per $100 of assessed valuation.
“Your tax bill is based on a district rate. It’s not based on a single rate, like a town rate or a township rate. It’s based on a multitude of rates combined together to make that district rate,” she said, adding that there’s two taxing districts that would be affected – the Tippecanoe Township taxing district and the North Webster town taxing district. The current rates for those are $0.9996 for the township and $1.6472 for the town.
“So, the first thing that the state is going to do is remove the current tax rate for fire services,” she said, which is 7 cents. In its place, they’ll put on the 23 cents. For 2022, that would make the township district rate $1.1588 and the town’s at $1.8064. Any properties not hitting the tax caps in the township will see a 15.9% increase; in the town, the increase would be 9.7%.
After Sansone’s lengthy presentation, former Wawasee School Board member Brian Dawes said, “Every taxpayer, whether they’re in this township or others, have many taxing units that are constantly looking to raise money. We’ve got the school, the library, the police, the fire, the county, the local, state, town, township and the county government – so it’s another government entity – determines the assessment. Taxpayers don’t have any say whether it goes up or down. And so as all of these things continue, it just means the property tax continues to skyrocket.”
He said in his opinion, what needs to happen in the town and township is that everyone needs to help the town get better and more companies then would end up building more neighborhoods.
“That’s the real issue here. We don’t have enough new communities, we don’t have enough new businesses, so it’s growth all around us, but it’s not happening in this area. So until that happens, I’m adamantly opposed to this kind of mindset,” Dawes said, adding that he doesn’t want the tax rate reset. “I think you’re asking for way too much money.”
He said the reason they’re not hitting the tax cap is because the Wawasee School District, for the last 50 years, “has limited our wasteful spending. There’s some of that out there, but compared to Warsaw and some other areas, we don’t have near as much wasteful spending with the school corporations they’ve had.”
Dawes said the referendum for Wawasee got voted down in November “for the exact same reason,” but Wawasee still has nice schools. “It’s 50 years worth of stuff that, in my mind, now you’re trying to take advantage of and I take offense at.”
A woman responded to Dawes’ comments by saying she’d be happy to pay additional taxes to make sure there’s an emergency service response should her daughter be injured.
Township Trustee Chris Francis said the fire territory would increase his annual property tax by $156, but the township is legally bound to provide fire protection and the township has a $140,000 shortfall for fire services.
Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Mike Wilson talked about why Warsaw and Wayne formed a fire territory in 2009 and the benefits of the formation.
Francis later said, “The big thing is, though, and the point I really want to hit is, I completely agree about how much we’re overtaxed. We can discuss that all day long. This boils down to, if I’m going to pick up my phone, if I’m going to call 911, I want somebody there and I want somebody there quick.”
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