At a special meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 15, to discuss possibly creating a fire territory involving the town of Pierceton and Monroe and Washington townships are from left: Pierceton Fire Chief Gordon Baker, Washington Township Trustee Dean Rhoades, Monroe Township Trustee Stephanie Cloud and Pierceton Town Council President Tom Barker and Vice President Matt Brubaker. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

PIERCETON — Pierceton and several townships are working on forming a fire territory.

A special meeting on that topic was held on Wednesday, Dec. 15, at the Pierceton Community Building. Present were Pierceton Fire Chief Gordon Baker, several Pierceton Town Council members and the trustees for Washington and Monroe townships, the other government entities which will make up the potential territory.

Also attending was Baker Tilly’s Paige Sansone. The company was hired to do a rate study on establishing the territory.

She presented figures on what the tax impact would be for those owning property in Pierceton and the townships.

Those are based on a proposed three-year budget for the territory. It breaks down to $984,500 for 2023, $1,192,600 in 2024 and $1,411,500 in 2025. Plans are to hire six firefighters for the first year and two more apiece in both the second and third years.

As proposed, tax rates will be phased in over the same three-year period. Those with property in Pierceton would see their tax rate jump up to 18.7% in the first year, 1.9% in the second year and 3.7% in the third year.

For Monroe Township, rates would go up to 27.9% in the first year, 2.4% in the second year and 4.7% in the third year. In Washington Township, rates would go up to 24.6% for the first year, 2.3% in the second year and 4.6% in the third year.

The different percentages are based off the entities’ different tax rates.

As an example, those with $100,000 homes in Pierceton would see their taxes go up to $121 in 2023 with additional increases of $14 and $29 in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

With a $100,000 home in Monroe Township, people would see an additional $128 increase in 2023, $14 in 2024 and $29 in 2025. For Washington, those having $100,000 homes would pay $120 more for 2023, $14 for 2024 and $29 for 2025.

As Sansone noted, tax caps would also come into play but quite of few of the homes in the area wouldn’t qualify for them, so owners would see all three increases.

Those at the meeting also discussed the need for the territory. Pierceton Town Council Vice President Matt Brubaker, who also serves as the Pierceton Fire Department’s assistant fire chief, noted that of 483 calls the volunteer department had last year, it didn’t respond to 35% of them.

Pierceton and the townships are to further consider the numbers before possibly moving forward with an interlocal agreement for the territory. The public would have the opportunity to weigh in at three meetings before the territory could be approved.