Board Tables Fire Contract Vote(posted Sept 8) A hearing to accept the proposed four year fire contract for Wayne Township Firefighters ended with a vote to table the matter until the Wayne Township Board meets again on September 13. The board members spent four hours on the issues of the contract, fire budget and township budget before deciding to adjourn. The idea of a four year contract did not rest will with Board members Lisa Bentley, Jack Irwin and Roger Bowser because of the unknowns of the property tax crisis. The fire contract increases salaries over a four year period to about $3.2 million. Bentley said she preferred to see a two year contract. Wayne Township Assessor Mike McCormack noted a two year contract might not necessarily mean a lower contract. The union could try to front load the four year contract into two years. He said the budget problems stems from a land locked township that can't grow its assessed value with new development. McCormack has also carried on the former township assessor's legal battle to add Indianapolis Airport Authority's tax exempt property outside the airport proper onto the tax roles to grow the tax base. The IAA's property is tax exempt because it is classified as aviation use even though some of these businesses leasing airport property are hotels and a gas station. Bentley said she did not want to be pressured to pass a contract when it was just handed to her just to meet the state's September 20 budget deadline. Indianapolis Metropolitan Professional Firefighters Union Local 416 Wayne Township President Scott Williams said 89 percent of the firefighters supported the contract. Any changes would mean starting the negotiations over. Williams did note the current contract does not expire until December 31, and theoretically the board could wait until then to approve a contract, but he did not believe that it would be a good idea to pass a budget without a fire contract. Wayne Township Fire Chief Larry Alcorn explained the contract contains a provision to reopen the contract if the township faces a budget crisis and the levy can no longer cover the contract. Board member Jim Mann wanted to know why the fire contract did not contain a provision if consolidation occurred. Alcorn said the contract is between the firefighters and the township, and they could not predict if consolidation would happen. He also noted that consolidation effort would probably be legislative driven and they would have no way of knowing what kind of law the legislature would pass instructing the consolidation process. Board member Earl Salisbury had problems with the Kelly days being included in the contracted because firefighters were receiving pay for not working a scheduled shift. "A Kelly Day acts like a paid vacation day," Williams said. Deputy Trustee Lynn McWhirter explained the benefit would save the township 12 hours of over time for each of the 35 employees over a 28 day pay schedule. Dennis Funkhauser of J C Hart Properties complained that Wayne Township taxes are driving apartment developers out of the township. Wayne Township is sixty percent higher than the other townships. Approximately $131 out of a $790 a month rental unit at River Chase Apartments goes for taxes. Board members also questioned the increase in the clothing allowance that will raise from the current $350 per year to $500 in the first year and $1000 in the last year. Although Funkhauser complained about the high taxes, he urged the board to move on from the $151,000 to cover clothing allowance out of an estimated $20,000,000 fire budget. Bowser agreed that the amount may be small, but the board had duty to look out for the taxpayer. Bentley wanted to reduce the maximum levy closer to $17,848,000 from the advertised amount of $21,350,000 to be raised to support the $34 million budget, but Township Trustee David Baird seemed reluctant to chop the budget more than $300,000, saying the budget is flat lined. Bowser disagreed with Baird saying the proposed budget has raised $1.1 million from last year and that Baird has chosen to fund the increases by using the rainy day fund and other non property tax levying units so as not to raise taxes. There is approximately $5 million in the rainy day fund partially due to the board's action to have a higher levy last year to cover the shortfalls of the inventory tax. The proposed 2008 tax rate will drop by one penny to .63 cents for $100 assessed valuation. Bowser wanted it lower the 2006 tax rate of .41 cents Coonrod said that taxpayers want lower taxes but they also want stable taxes. He said that cutting the budget by $300,000 each year over a period of four years would prevent spiking for taxpayers. He also noted a fire budget deficit existed when the tax rate was .41 cent per $100 assessed valuation. Board members also complained about the fire budget's $1 million listed under "others services." Without line items, the board was not able to determine what the money would fund. Bentley also wanted to use the projected $2 million to $3 million county option income tax (COIT) distributions instead of relying on levies that affect property taxes. The budget did not account for that because the city has not relinquished the distributions due to the township. Bentley said it is just a matter of time before the township receives the funds since the fire territory between Clermont and Wayne Township no longer exists. The township is in an ongoing two year legal battle with the city to receive COIT funds. The city said the township was not entitled because the fire territory allowed the township to raise the fire budget outside the maximum levy for three years. CPA Curt Coonrod, who serves as the trustee's budget consultant, said COIT was not included in the 2008 budget because "the guy with the check book (Indianapolis) doesn't agree with you." The board will meet again on Thursday at 6:00 pm in the Wayne Township office at 5401 West Washington St. |
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