Portage, Warren townships start toward goal of county-wide fire territory, Centre balks

SOUTH BEND — St. Joseph County could see a new fire territory created this year that would unite Portage and Warren townships.

But Centre Township, currently partnered with Portage Township in the Southwest Central Fire Territory, has declined to join and will go solo.

The second of four public hearings regarding the Portage-Warren partnership takes place March 5.

Portage and Warren plan to establish the St. Joseph County Fire Protection Territory together, which Portage Township Trustee Jason Critchlow said will create a more efficient fire service within the townships’ service areas.

“If we put something together that’s a high-quality fire service that pays well and provides highly trained individuals with good response times, it makes an attractive option for other entities as they start to hit financial constraints,” Critchlow said.

By uniting the two fire territories, this would lead to “all kinds of benefits,” Critchlow said, listing less burnout and fewer injuries on the job.

The current Southwest Central Fire Territory, which services Portage, Centre and parts of Greene townships, runs three-man shifts, Critchlow said. Under the new territory, they’d run five-man shifts.

"It’s less wear and tear on the firefighters, more hands to help on scenes and a higher quality service when they arrive on scenes,” he said.

Developing a territory, Warren Township Trustee Steven Downey said, is the only way to meet today’s needs and demands of the fire service.

Warren Township, which has been operating as a stand-alone fire township for more than 10 years, has reached its growth ceiling, Downey said, adding that to reach that next level, Warren needs to enter a fire territory, requiring a higher levy in order to offer better fire protection.

“This is where the small guy, in this case being a township, has a little bit of a taxing advantage,” Downey said. “If you form a fire territory, you’re allowed to hit the reset button on what your fire levy is.”

Forming a territory will allow Portage and Warren townships to provide stronger fire presence than what exists today, their trustees say.

“We want to pay those people a better wage than what we pay them today, and a territory gives us the vehicle to be able to do that," Downey said.

The proposed territory aims to employ 47 fire personnel, with three full-time shifts at three stations.

“The need is enough to employ every current Warren and SWCFT member if they so choose,” Critchlow said. “I provided a commitment to the SWCFT union in writing that will open the hiring to only Warren and SWCFT personnel first, before considering outside hires.”

Additionally, under the proposed territory, firefighters would have unified training sessions.

“If there’s a big disaster that several departments need to respond to, our firemen have all been training together," Critchlow said, "so they’d be able to respond together.”

Centre Township declined to join

Prior to plans for Portage and Warren’s fire territory, the goal was to have Warren and Union townships join Portage and Centre townships under the new entity.

“I wanted all of us to form one territory,” Critchlow said, one with an increased salary for firefighters.

The proposed salary for firefighters/EMTs within the St. Joseph County Fire Protection Territory would increase from the current salary of $53,000 to $75,000, which, Critchlow said, is, “on par with the city of South Bend and other municipalities.”

The firefighter’s union is supportive of a new fire territory, Critchlow said.

Portage met with Centre and invited it to join the new proposed entity. It declined.

“This is wonderful for the firemen,” Centre Township Board President Tom Lindenman said was his initial reaction to the proposal, but he questioned, “What can I afford? What’s responsible to the taxpayers we’re accountable to?”

The current tax rate for the Southwest Central Fire Territory, made up of Portage and Centre, is 50 cents per $100 of a property's assessed value for 2024, Lindenman said. The tax rate is based on the net assessed value, which Critchlow said is $434 million. But as an example, the fire territory tax on a $100,000 house would be $500 per year.

Alternatively, the proposed tax rate for the St. Joseph County Fire Protection Territory with Portage and Warren is 87 cents, based on the combined net assessed value of $600 million. A higher assessed value indicates more properties, showing more service needed within the new territory.

Eighty percent of property owners within St. Joseph County are at the tax cap, Critchlow said, according to his financial consultant who ran the numbers, saying these residents won’t be affected by the proposed tax rate.

“Most property owners in St. Joe County are already at the limit, so they’re not taxed anymore for this,” Critchlow said. “If taxes are a pie — schools, the airport, library, the county, the city — everybody takes a certain slice of that pie. All we would be doing is taking a little more of that slice of pie. The taxpayer isn’t paying any more, because they’re already paying for the whole pie.”

He gave an example: “It might mean the city of South Bend gets $20,000 less a year, the county gets $50,000 less a year, the schools get $1,000 less a year. It’s miniscule amounts,” which, he said, are set by the state.

Centre’s concern is for those who aren’t at the tax cap.

“Philosophically, I have a problem when you’re taking money from someone else to fund this thing,” Lindenman said.

Lindenman said a fire budget of $6 million out of a multi-billion pie is not huge, but for homeowners not yet at the tax cap, including some whose homes are worth less than $100,000, "their rates are going to go up."

He estimated their rates will increase by $50 to $100 a year.

“We’re going from 26 cents to 87 cents,” Downey said, comparing Warren’s current tax rates to what they’ll be in the territory. “It’s not an enormous pile of money that we’re all of sudden getting. What we have now is not enough. It needs to be more, it needs to be better. To do that, it has a cost.”

He added, by getting a “bigger slice,” they’d have more in the budget to put toward fire protection and EMS services and that other parts of the county receiving money from property tax wouldn’t notice the difference.

“For the townships, being the small guy in the pool of property taxes that are divided up, if we get a bigger slice, we notice it a lot more because, proportionally, it’s a lot bigger compared to what our property tax slice was before," Downey said. “That’s why the vast majority of residents would not see a property tax increase as a result of our township fire tax levy going up. We’re just taking a bigger slice of what they’re already paying.”

“Where do you end?” Lindenman asked. “Is the end goal to have a fire truck in everybody’s garage? Where’s the happy medium in between here?”

“When it’s overkill, you have to stop and think, ‘How many stations do you have to have for this little thing?’” Centre Trustee Judith Halloway said. “It’d be nice to have another one for Centre down the corner, but why would the taxpayers want to pay for all that stuff? As long as we can service them,” Halloway said, claiming they have one of the best response times in the state. “You don’t need all this plush.”

Centre fire personnel work 48-hour shifts and then are off for four days.

“We’re paying them to sleep part of the time, too, so what’s a fair wage?” Lindenman asked. “Admittedly, we’ve been on the low side for a while,” he said, but he thinks they can increase salaries to be comparable with Penn Township. However, Lindenman said, they can’t pay the salaries proposed by the St. Joseph County Fire Protection Territory.

Lindenman doesn’t think it’s a valid comparison to be compared to the South Bend Fire Department.

“Their population density is much greater than ours,” he said. “Their commercial density is much greater than ours, and they probably need more fire protection than we do. That’s why it boils down to: What can we afford?”

Centre is optimistic for the future

Critchlow said he was left with no other option than to pull out of the territory with Centre.

“They wanted to maintain the status quo; I wanted to create a bigger territory,” he said. “If I did not state that (I was pulling out), then nothing would happen. We can’t form a new fire territory unless we dissolve this one. It’s a new legal entity.”

He waited until the last minute to start the process, he said, wanting Centre to get on board, but per their agreement, time was short.

Critchlow referenced an agreement with Centre Township for the Southwest Central Fire Territory, notarized on Feb. 19, 2008: It allows a township in the fire territory to withdraw if it passes an ordinance between January and April of the year before it withdraws. It must also give at least 60 days of written notice.

Critchlow gave notice in December, stating that Portage intends to leave the Southwest Central Fire Territory and form a new one. In doing so, Centre Township is left alone.

“Centre will have to figure out what they are going to do,” he said. “Are they going to provide fire protection for themselves or are they going to join someone else? That’s up to them.”

Centre is optimistic about operating alone.

“I think we can improve our service a little bit without having to operate two stations,” Lindenman said.

According to Lindenman, Centre’s assessed property value of $327 million is two-thirds greater than Portage’s $135 million.

“By them leaving and our decision not to join, we are left to fend for ourselves,” said Lindenman, which he said they can do successfully. “I’ve run the numbers, I had a professional guy look over the numbers, and I think we can even improve our service.”

Lindenman said because of an agreement with Portage’s previous trustee, Centre intended to stick by their side for as long as they could, until Portage decided to form another territory.

“It was their initiative,” Lindenman said. “And to be honest, we weren’t all that unhappy because they’re not big enough. We only really needed one station. When we split this up, their share is going to be one third and our share will be two thirds. In our favor, we get to keep the 50 cent tax rate. When you multiply that times our net assessed value, our station is more than funded. We won’t be floating in money, but we can make it happen.”

“This is going to be a friendly divorce,” Lindenman said. “There’s no hard feelings.”

Public hearings to determine the fate of the St. Joseph Fire Protection Territory

Public hearings and one final vote to either adopt, reject or table the resolution take place through the end of March at Fire Station #41, 23626 Fillmore Road. The remaining hearings are:

● March 5 at 6 p.m.

● March 14 at 6 p.m.

● March 28 at 6 p.m. A vote will take place at 7 p.m.

Through the remainder of 2024, Portage will remain with the Southwest Central Fire Territory to provide services within their current budget that’s been passed.

Critchlow holds out hope for Centre to join in the future, still maintaining the vision of a single fire territory encompassing all of St. Joseph County.

“The state wants to see more of this conglomeration,” he said, citing previous success in Marion and Allen counties.

Downey agreed, saying that the state sees fire territories as a better business model.

Centre, however, doesn’t think it’s necessary. In the eyes of Centre, township fire departments already work together as a team.

“There’s mutual aid,” Galloway said. “If we are standing alone and we have a big house fire, the surrounding fire departments are called in.”

“There’s an excellent working relationship between the departments. That’s huge,” Lindenman said.

He gave an example. “If we were to get a call out of this station, there’s a good chance Penn might staff our station temporarily while we’re off fighting a fire,” he said. “In the event you have a big disaster, like the house that burned up with six kids in South Bend, then there may be some appetite for change.”

However, Critchlow disagreed with the method, skeptical of relying on the mindset of “if we need someone, someone will show up,” he said, “until they don’t.”

He said that through mutual aid, taxpayers wouldn’t be paying their fare share.

“If there was no fire department in Centre Township and the city of South Bend was responding to all of their fire calls,” Critchlow said as an example, “then Centre Township taxpayers aren’t paying for that. That’s not fair to the city of South Bend who’s paying for it. It’s about what’s right. Everybody pays in and everybody gets the same level of service.”

Centre remains resistant, saying it’ll take state intervention to form a county-wide fire territory.

“I’m always a little apprehensive about forming new territories, particularly when you know the climate in various townships,” Lindenman said. “There are some townships with a lot of friction. You want the marriage to have a good probability of success before you start.”

“There’s personalities that exist in these townships that will probably resist that for a period of time,” Keith Winger, a Centre Township board member, added. “It won’t be in my lifetime.”“I got seven years on you,” the 77-year-old Lindenman said, laughing. “Definitely not in mine.”

Email Tribune staff writer Camille Sarabia at csarabia@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Centre not buying township partnership being sold by Portage, Warren