SYRACUSE - Turkey Creek Township Fire Chief Mickey Scott told the Syracuse Town Council members at Tuesday’s meeting that he knew his request to purchase a $2.1million aerial fire truck was a lot, but not replacing it at this time could cost the town and its residents even more.
Scott told the council the cost to replace the aerial truck is $2,189,700 and the cost to refurbish it would be $1,370,000, assuming they don’t find any other issues.
The fire department’s current aerial truck is 24 years old. They bought it used in 2010 for $560,000 and at that time a new one cost $1.4 million.
“We got 15 years out of a used truck, that’s pretty good,” Scott said.
He said the town is required to have an aerial truck if they have five or more buildings with three stories - the town has eight - and also if there are buildings requiring a certain amount of water flow and Scott said there are several.
He checked with an insurance company about what the cost would be if they didn’t have an aerial truck and he was told they would lose four points in public protection class, which would increase all homeowners’ insurance 20-25%. For example, if a homeowner is paying $1,000 for insurance, the cost would increase to $1,250 without the aerial truck. Scott also said that businesses check the public protection rating when they look to move into a community.
Council members asked how long it would take to get the truck and Scott said this was a stock unit and they build one stock unit a quarter and they’d have their name on it. However, if they were to wait another quarter, with the tariffs, he was told they could expect to pay an additional $25,000 per quarter.
Council President Nathan Scherer asked Turkey Creek Township Trustee Joe Cazier, who was present at the meeting, how the passage of Indiana Senate Bill 1 would affect the cost. Cazier said it wouldn’t affect this year; beyond that no one knows. Cazier said the purchase would exhaust the equipment budget, so they’d have to start building it again.
When asked, Scott said after this purchase their equipment would be in good shape for quite a while. The council approved the purchase.
Scherer said, “Obviously, in the future things are uncertain and we’re going to have to be ultra-cautious until we understand how this all shakes out,” adding that they may not be able to do what they could in the past and department heads needed to do their best to maintain equipment. “It’s the way our government is working and it’s not working in our favor at this point so we have to pull together.”
Abatement Approved
Steve Showalter, of North Trace RV Resort LLC, came to the council seeking a 10-year tax abatement. Showalter told the council they’ve been investing since 2022 and won’t see any income until spring 2026 and won’t see a profit for several years after that. He said they’ll have invested $8 million in phase one alone and asked them to keep in mind they weren’t a big corporation but a family-owned business.
Councilman Bill Musser pointed out that the abatement was seeking 100% for two years and 20% the 10th year. “That’s highly unusual, isn’t it?”
Councilman Paul Stoelting said typically it’s 100% for the first year going down to 10% for the 10th year. Town Manager David Wilkinson pointed out they could approve whatever. Showalter said he knew they were asking a lot, but they’ve also invested a lot.
Scherer asked what the anticipated appraised value would be once it was all completed and Showalter said he hadn’t received the appraisal yet, but said they had $6 million in infrastructure and the main building and event center only will be $2 million. He shared with the council studies that show the spending habits of a family of four camping in an area tend to spend $200 a day. He said at 80 sites, even at 60% capacity for 126 nights, would be over $2 million in local economy.
He admitted Syracuse might not see all of that; some surrounding communities may benefit as well. “But we’ll be a mile away, so you’ll likely see the bulk of it,” he said.
Musser said, “I know I brought it up, but I don’t have a problem with 100% the first two years. I can see where you’re coming from and that it will be a while before you see a profit.”
Wilkinson did point out to the council when giving abatements to keep in mind that SB-1 passed and, “That’s going to heavily affect our revenue stream going forward after this year. We don’t know what that’s going to look like, but it’s going to be a lot so every dollar will count.”
The council approved the abatement as presented.
Later, in a related matter, Wilkinson said they’ll be holding public hearings on the annexation of North Trace RV Resort next week. Monday and Tuesday, the hearings will be 6-8 p.m.; Wednesday through Friday, 4 to 6 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 to 11 a.m. Only four adjacent properties are affected, but the law requires they hold six public hearings.
Alley Vacation Approved
Attorney Stephen Snyder brought an ordinance on behalf of Travis and Jamie George to vacate an alley at the intersection of Pearl Street and Dolan Drive. He said the alley is unimproved, has no utilities and doesn’t see any purpose for it. If vacated, half the width goes to one lot and the other half to the other lot. He said the George’s might want to construct on the current empty lot.
“Let’s get it on the tax rolls, eliminate the public walking across it. Development is complete and it won’t be hindering any access to any private or public place, and it would increase the depth of the lots,” Snyder said.
Council members asked if neighboring property owners were notified, and Snyder said everyone was and no one contacted him with any concerns. Stoelting pointed out in the past the consensus was that they wouldn’t vacate any rights-of-way, although he didn’t see any point in this case but felt he needed to point that out.
Snyder said vacating the alley benefits all five of the lots. The council agreed to the vacation.
Council Redistricting
Wilkinson brought up that in 2021 the state legislature passed a mandate that every community redistrict if they met certain criteria, “Which Syracuse does because of how our elections are held.”
Wilkinson said many didn’t know about it, so it didn’t get done and in 2024 they passed Indiana Senate Bill 135, extending the mandate to June 30, 2025. He said the town attorney suggested they form a committee to look at it and if it were nominal, nothing would need to change.
Scherer pointed out that it probably would change because of the addition of Kern Road and Urban Oaks apartments.
Scherer also brought up that they had discussed the possibility of changing the council to three districts and two at-large seats and wondered if this would be the time to do so.
Wilkinson said he didn’t know. He said if they were going to do it, they would need to do so before the next election, which would have Stoelting and Larry Siegel’s seats up for re-election, or wait until the election after that. He said the benefits of having at-large seats allows for more people to run for council.
Other council members felt it was worth exploring but they needed more information. They did agree to meet to deal with the mandate.
Old Business
Musser brought up that the electric vehicle charging station the town was supposed to get is on hold because Michiana Area Council of Government told Wilkinson “due to presidential executive order.”
Scherer pointed out that an article by HGTV and republished locally named Syracuse as the most expensive neighborhood and he said he didn’t like that. “The community has to come together and figure out how to make it more affordable. If we don’t grow our tax base, things are just going to get tighter.
“When talking about annexation, if a property is agricultural assessed, it’s not going to have a tax impact on you to allow the town to annex. It’s important for people to know that and their property may be worth more by doing so. Having the cooperation of landowners around town would be appreciated as we look at how to maintain our quality of life in the midst of funding cuts.”
Scott said that the town of Syracuse actually has the 10th lowest tax rate — over 2,000 Indiana communities are higher.
In other business, the council:
• Approved an additional $1,050 for an ambulance. The total cost is $366,238 and the town already approved all but $1,050 of that cost.
• Heard an Arbor Day celebration will be April 25 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Schrock Athletic Complex.
• Heard the parks department received a $90,000 grant from K-21 Health Foundation to build a pickleball court.
• Heard Touch a Truck is May 3 and the Farmer’s Market will open May 17.
• Heard options for paying for the Main Street Parking lot reconstruction but no decision was made.