INDIANAPOLIS — Mooresville and Brown Township are looking to create a Fire Territory in order to address the growing needs of their departments.
The issue: property owners are concerned about what this will mean for their wallets.
The departments want to create a Fire Territory to increase personnel, staff ambulances 24/7 and cover more 911 calls.
Mooresville Fire Chief Matt Dalton says there are also increased costs of equipment, utilities, building repairs, driveways and grounds.
“It’s going to be adding more staffing to our current situation right now. It’s also going to be needing more trucks to take those 911 calls," Chief Dalton said.
This comes at a time when both departments have seen a steady increase in 911 calls over the last six years.
430 more calls for Mooresville and 405 more calls for Brown Township.
“Our personnel, we’re short and we can’t get trucks out the door," he said.
The proposed budget would be about $8.3 million.
The money would come from residents like Herbert Archer.
“I live on social security. That’s my only source of income. The increase they’re talking about would probably take one entire social security check away from me," Archer said.
The 78-year-old Vietnam Veteran says money is tight right now.
“Everything’s gone up. Property taxes have doubled. Home owner’s insurance doubled. Everybody knows about the price of eggs and all that stuff," he said.
Dennis Harris is in a similar boat.
“It’s more or less telling me ‘You live on less so we can live on more,'" he said.
Property taxes would increase by 30.1 percent for Brown Township and 32.2 percent for Mooresville.
The process to establish a Fire Protection Territory requires three public hearings, an adoption meeting where fiscal bodies will vote, and if it passes it will go to the state.
The last public hearing took place on Thursday.
The next and final meeting will be on March 20.
