There will be fewer township governments in Indiana as early as next year because of a township merger law passed by the Indiana legislature earlier this year. Township trustees are responsible for fire protection in some counties, providing emergency financial assistance to income eligible residents, and maintaining cemeteries not administered by a church or cemetery board.
In Scott County, townships fund volunteer fire departments. In Jackson County rural fire protection is funded, with the exception of one township, by a fire district with an appointed board with the ability to levy a tax.
For years, starting with the Mitch Daniels administration, the state has tried various ways to eliminate the township trustees and township boards. All failed as no one had developed a way to transfer the duties of the trustee to the county
The change is a result of SEA 270 which does not eliminate townships but does reduce the number of township governments.
There are currently 1,008 townships in Indiana’s 92 counties. According to John Wales, executive director of the Indiana Township Association, the Indiana legislature had mandated small townships to merge.
While the new law will not reduce the number of townships, it will reduce the number of township governments.
According to the law, by the end of this year the state Department of Local Government Finance will assign each township a number based on a number of criteria including potential redundancy in fire service, amount of annual poor relief, cemetery maintenance, and other factors.
That number will determine if the township must merge with another township or will be left alone.
According to Wales, at this time no one is sure what those numbers will be.
From Jan. 1 to July 1, 2027 affected townships will be able to merge voluntarily with other affected townships. The law requires the merging townships to share a border. If the township fails to merge, the county commissioners or the state will make the decision on who merges with who.
Wales said it is best for townships if they make the decisions on who they want to merge with now instead of waiting for others to make the decision for them.
After townships merge, one primary township will keep its trustee and township board. The other townships that merged with the primary township will lose their trustee and township boards and be governed by the primary township trustee and board, according to Wales.
Township trustees and township boards are up for election this November. Any merged township next year would be administered by a primary township until the 2030 general election in which all registered voters in merged townships would elect their combined new trustee and township board.
The townships will still be in geographic existence but will not have their own trustee and township board.
The amount of savings to the taxpayer is expected to be negligible.
Below are the total township tax rates for Scott and Jackson Counties for this year.
SCOTT COUNTY
Finley .0507
Jennings .0909
Johnson .1066
Lexington .0435
Vienna .0596
JACKSON COUNTY
Brownstown .0222
Carr .3384
Driftwood .0470
Grassy Fork .0368
Hamilton .0188
Jackson .0176
Owen .0380
Pershing .0571
Redding .0113
Salt Creek .0587
Vernon .0140
Washington .0192
Carr Township is the lone township is Jackson County whose trustee funds fire protection. The remaining townships are funded by a fire protection district.
In Scott County all township trustees are responsible for funding fire protection.
In Jackson County, fire protection districts were established during the Daniels administration (2005-2013) when it wanted to eliminate township government. Back then, volunteer fire chiefs of township department pushed county commissioners to form fire protection districts to avoid department consolidation, lack of funding, and equipment loss or co-mingling in the event of township elimination.
The establishment of fire districts eliminated the fire protection tax rate levied by township trustees. But the appointed fire district boards resulted in an increased fire rate more than the township had. Daniel’s push to lower taxes by eliminating townships resulted in a property tax increase by and large in Jackson County.
Merged units of government are not anything new in Jackson County. The Jackson-Washington Fire District provides rural fire protection in those townships while the Owen-Salt Creek Fire District funds fire protection in the northwest part of the county.
