LAFAYETTE, IN — So far, Wabash Township’s fire department won’t receive any revenue from the county’s public safety local income tax, leaving the fate of the request in the hands of the Lafayette City Council.
On Tuesday, Tippecanoe County Council members voted 5 to 2 against appropriating $750,000 from the public safety income tax revenues to help Wabash Township finance fire department expenditures. The money would be used to hire new firefighters so each shift has three, as well as pay for needed equipment.
The county council’s denial is not the final say in whether the township receives the money.
It takes at least two of the largest members of county’s income tax council to approve increases in the tax rate or requests for extra distributions. West Lafayette already approved the request. If Lafayette City Council approves the request on Monday, the township will receive the money.
Public hearing on the request
While answering council members’ questions, Wabash Township Trustee Angel Valentín said the township’s budget struggles because of limits on what it is able to levy through property taxes.
Councilman John Basham asked whether Valentín is a full-time trustee, which Valentín affirmed he is, saying most townships the size of Wabash Township have a full-time trustee. Basham asked Valentín’s salary, and he was told about $76,000 a year.
In 2022, when Valentín became trustee, the job paid roughly $36,000 a year. Additionally, the township now provides Valentín with an automobile, according to information from last month’s council meeting.
Basham asked whether the township fire department should be folded into the West Lafayette Fire Department.
Valentín said he is not aware of any annexation plans by West Lafayette, and there’s no talk of combining the departments into a fire territory.
The public safety local income tax was adopted in 2019 to finance public safety, including the cities’ fire departments, police departments, sheriff’s department, county courts and prosecutor’s office.
Valentín argued for an appropriation from the public safety local income tax by pointing out the growth of businesses, residences and a hospital in the township, all of which fall under the township’s fire department.
“Since 2020, $72 million will have been collected in public safety taxes, and our residents outside the city limits in West Lafayette will have paid $7.2 million,” Valentín said at the start of Tuesday’s public hearing. “And yet our fire department has been unable to access this source of funding. By the end of the year … the county will be sitting on $7.6 million of public safety tax reserves. At the same time, the county has continued to make decisions that will increase our run volume and decrease revenue.”
Ironically, after the council voted no to the request to help finance the township’s fire department, the council voted yes to assist a developer with financing a housing development at Yeager Road and County Road 500 North. The county will secure up to $11 million in bonds for the developer, then immediately the developer will assume responsibility for the repaying the bond and will receive the money from the bonds. It poses no risk to the taxpayers, and it is a common use in public/private developments. It does, however, add more homes to Wabash Township Fire Department’s district.
Justin Kendall, a Lafayette resident, spoke during the public hearing in favor of the township receiving the money.
“County government is making a bunch of decisions to bring development and employers to unincorporated Wabash Township,” he said. “It becomes your responsibility to make sure that emergency services are adequately funded and can be provided to the residents. If you guys are going to continue to add development to those areas, then you need to properly fund them.”
Travis Merkel, a Wabash Township firefighter and president of the firefighters’ union, said during the hearing, “Our community is growing. Not granting this is not responsible growth. It’s gambling with people’s safety. Do the right thing and do your job.”
Dan Huff, vice president of the Wabash Township firefighters’ union, urged the council members to approve the request and threatened that a no vote will have political consequences.
“We will actively support any candidate that runs against you, regardless of political party, because we have no choice,” Huff said. “A no vote says to us you just don’t care. You’re OK putting our lives in jeopardy. We want you to vote yes because we know it’s the right thing to do.”
Council members Barry Richard and Ben Carson voted in favor of providing the township fire department with money from the public safety local income tax. Council members Ben Murray, Basham, Kathy Vernon, Lisa Dullum and Jodi Hamilton voted no.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Tippecanoe council denies Wabash Twp. request for public safety money
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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By Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier | USA TODAY Network
