The last in a series of three public hearings was held in Hamlet Tuesday night to deliver information to residents about a proposed formation of a Fire Protection Territory.
The formation of a Fire Protection Territory would involve a property tax increase to the Town of Hamlet and Davis Township taxpayers in order to gather more funds to operate the fire department. More revenue is being sought to help the Hamlet-Davis Township Fire Department afford varying operating and equipment costs in the department as the Davis Township budget has hit its maximum fire levy.
The formation of a Fire Protection Territory would gather enough funds for a proposed budget of $99,000 where a lot of items could be paid for that cannot be done now due to budget constraints.
Tippecanoe Township Trustee Bill Jones from Tippecanoe County explained that a tax rate of .1912 would be proposed for the Fire Protection Territory. Previously he said the current tax rate for fire for Hamlet is 8 cents and the tax rate for Davis Township is 5 cents. In order to achieve the same tax rate for both entities, taxes for residents inside the Town Limits of Hamlet would raise 3 percent while taxes for residents in Davis Township would increase 6.2 percent.
During the public comment portion, the same request was to raise the taxes the same for both the town and the township, but really the residents asked if there could be other avenues to explore to increase the needed revenue rather than raising taxes when costs are already high for everything else. While everyone agrees that the fire department is valuable, they asked why the Fire Protection Territory is needed now and wondered if this could be pushed back a year for more research.
The decision on whether or not to move forward with the Fire Protection Territory is up to the Hamlet Town Council and the Davis Township Advisory Board members. The Advisory Board members will be meeting Tuesday, March 22 at 6 p.m. CT at the Fire Department/Community Center in Hamlet to vote. The Hamlet Town Council will vote during their regular meeting Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Hamlet Town Hall. In order for the Fire Protection Territory to pass, there must be a positive majority vote by both entities.
