The City of Jeffersonville and the Utica Township Fire District are creating a new taxing territory that will consolidate their fire protection and add a new EMS/ambulance service for the two units. The proposed budget for this taxing territory is $35.1 million.
The Jeffersonville/Utica taxing territory has allocated $7 million for the EMS portion. They anticipate generating $3 million from service fees which means the portion covered by tax revenue will be $4 million. County-wide EMS service is currently provided by the Clark County Commissioners via Heartland Ambulances. The cost of this service for the entire county is $3 million. Jeffersonville and Utica Township both receive coverage under the existing county contract. The proposed territory will pay more for EMS service than what is currently paid for the entire county: $4 million vs. $3 million and for a smaller area.
The proposed taxing territory has allocated $28.1 million of the total budget for fire protection services. The current budget for Jeffersonville's fire services is $14 million. The proposal doubles the budget but only adds a small additional coverage area.
All cities, towns, townships, schools, fire departments, and libraries in Clark County will lose money from their budgets over the next three years because the new taxing territory gives a larger portion of the available tax revenue to the City of Jeffersonville to cover the proposed $35.1 million budget (see images below for total impacts). This leaves less money available for the other units. Although all other units lose money from their budgets, the City of Jeffersonville gains. The city receives $4 million as a credit to their general fund from replacing the existing fire department budget. They receive an additional $2 million to their Local Income Tax allocation over the next three years.
A public hearing during which public comment will be heard is scheduled for Thursday, February 20th at 4:00 PM at Jeffersonville's City Hall (500 Quartermaster Court).
The creation of this fire territory has a disastrous impact on the City of Charlestown's annual budget.
Charlestown will lose a total of $494,104 over the next three years. We use this money to pay our school resource officers and to pay for some of our capital improvement plan items like parks and infrastructure. This means we have used it to repair drainage problems, make sidewalk repairs, fix problems with and upgrade our buildings, and buy equipment for our parks. We also use it to cover some of our media for events like our animated Christmas light show and festivals.
What can you do?
Attend the hearing on Thursday, Feb 20th at 4:00 pm and sign up for public comment to ask the Jeffersonville City Council and Utica Township Fire District to table this decision and revisit the proposed budget to reduce the negative impact on other taxing units.
Ask Jeffersonville to negotiate a fire service contract with River Ridge the same way they have negotiated a police service contract. This could reduce the negative impact on all other units because it would cover a portion of the budget and not require so much tax revenue. This will also decrease the impact on homeowners in Jeffersonville and Utica who will see increases in their taxes if this passes as it is currently proposed.
Encourage the Utica Township Fire District Board to publish a request for proposals to solicit bids for other units or providers who can offer fire protection for their community. A competitive bid process could produce an option that saves everyone money.
Ask both agencies to slow this process and seek other options to phase in proposed capital improvements that are a part of the current budget. A reduced budget can help avoid such significant financial losses for other communities.
Share your story. Based on the items we use these funds for, what will you lose if we are forced to make budget cuts to cover this loss? Remind them that we are neighbors. We shop in each others' cities. We work in each others' cities. We celebrate events in each others' cities. We should take time to negotiate an outcome that works for everyone.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email at Treva@MayorTreva.com or by phone at (812) 896-5647.
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