MADISON COUNTY, Ind. — Communities across Madison County are expressing concern following the signing of Senate Bill 1 by Governor Mike Braun. The legislation imposes new limits on tax levies, which local officials say will hinder their ability to provide essential public safety services.
Eight local governing bodies had previously agreed to expand the South Madison Fire Protection Territory, but now, that plan has to be scrapped. The cancellation of the territory expansion is due to the financial constraints imposed by the new law. You can see a map of what the expansion would have looked like below. You can read more about the expansion here.
"There is just no way that we can serve these other areas with the parameters that have been set in SB 1," said Marissa Skaggs, president of the Pendleton Town Council. "That 40 cent tax levy is grossly insufficient for us to branch out and provide service to these new areas."
Earlier this year, the town of Pendleton, along with four townships and three other towns, had agreed to a tax levy of 80 cents for every $100 of assessed value. Now, they fear the reduced levy will compromise their ability to extend services to the expanded territory.
These areas are primarily served by volunteer or part-time fire departments. But volunteer firefighters and EMS providers are hard to come by these days, which is why this new territory would have allowed for the hiring of several dozen more first responders.
Chris Nodine, fire chief of the South Madison Fire Territory, is concerned for the taxpayers he currently serves and the ones he would have, had this expansion continued.
"They are going to have to go back to their respective fire territories," Nodine said. "You know they are having staffing issues, they are having funding issues, that ultimately is going to trickle down to our fire territory, where we may be called to provide services for them if they can't get out the door. Nobody wants to volunteer anymore."
Residents in the proposed expanded district are also concerned. Joey Bodenhorn, a resident of Lapel, is particularly worried about the safety of his family, including his daughter who has epilepsy.
"You know if she has a seizure, I may be waiting for Noblesville fire department or Pendleton or another local agency to respond," said Bodenhorn, whose home was recently destroyed in a storm.
He added, "Can you put a value on a child's life? That's what I would ask the governor."
Local government officials are hoping that the state will take their concerns into account.
"This is a situation where we are no longer able to be insulated from these decisions made at the state level. It gets very partisan and it's very frustrating," Skaggs said.
Public officials and first responders say their state representatives have been responsive to their concerns and are working with them to find a way to give them an exemption. However, they say their state senator, Mike Gaskill, hasn't returned their calls or emails. I reached out to him for an interview but he wasn't available for one. Instead, he replied with the following statement.
"I am not opposed to the expansion of the fire territory, but I have been told by officials involved that they will need a property tax rate of 0.8% to do the expansion. That rate is double the tax cap of 0.4% in Senate Enrolled Act 1 [iga.in.gov].
"The territory will have to find a way to do the expansion within the property tax cap stated in SEA 1 if they want to expand the fire territory. SEA 1 allows counties to use part of their local income tax revenue specifically for fire territories as another source of revenue."
