Franklin Township to Look at Fire Consolidation
Although some members of the Franklin Township Board in Marion County may have opposed fire consolidation in the past, some are giving it a second look.
Faced with the loss of at least $1 million in annual revenue due to property tax caps, the township trustee, Terry Royalty, is forming a committee to look at all the township’s options, including fire consolidation, to deal with its financial crisis. The Board is also doing a study of how revenue would be lost on a parcel by parcel basis due to the tax caps.
Here is the actual statement from Township Trustee Terry Royalty…
I know there’s been a lot of questions recently about the townships plan to move forward in light of the property caps that will take full effect in 2010 and will take a healthy bite of the townships future revenue stream.
I want the board and the public to know we are already preparing for these challenges and we will do our very best to protect property, lives and the taxpayers in Franklin Township. In light of this I’m announcing three steps which I am implementing immediately.
I’m placing an immediate hiring freeze on all positions in the township and I’ve instructed Eric Reedy of Reedy Financial to conduct a parcel by parcel analysis of Franklin Township property taxes and collections to produce the most accurate figures possible and the affects of the tax caps in Franklin Township and I’m establishing an informal work group to look at the projections of 2010, 2011 and to make recommendations regarding all options the township has to meet these financial challenges in 2010 and 2011.
Appointed to this group is: Jason Hansman, Andy Hughes, Paige Green, Chief Weasner and Debbie Civals will co-chair the group. Brian Bosma and Eric Reedy will serve as advisors to the working group and if anyone has any recommendations for review please contact me so we can take care of it. And that’s my answer to all the questions before we get into the rest of the meeting.
Township board members say they would also be open to listening to any presentation by the city of Indianapolis on the issue of merger as well. No decision would be made before June. However, township board members are concerned that with less than 10 months to go before the property tax caps fully kick in that a lot of time has been wasted and plan to deal with the caps should have been put in place a long time ago.
Well, duh!
Take a look at this folks, between tax caps, abandoned and foreclosed housing driving down assessed values, a lot of local governments are going to be forced to look for efficiencies and merging services.
