Ridenour State of City looks ahead to two new fire stations

MUNCIE, Ind. − Mayor Dan Ridenour summed up his administration's accomplishments in an election-year State of the City address last week and declared goals for this year, including two new city fire stations.

"We are going to put in two new state-of-the-art fire stations," Ridenour told the crowd gathered at the Ball State University Alumni Center on March 2.

The new stations replace Fire Station No. 5 along Tillotson Avenue next to Christy Woods and Fire Station No. 6 along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at McCulloch Park.

"It was just embarrassing to tour some of these facilities to understand what our public safety employees were working in. There might be three urinals but only one was working. There was no privacy. Cabinets, where they are keeping their clothing, falling apart," said Ridenour. "We are fixing that."

Ridenour told The Star Press that the combined cost of the two new stations was about $15 million to be paid for by a bond issue. The bond would be paid back with Economic Development Income Tax, or EDIT, money, which is under the control of the mayor.

However, Muncie City Council would have to approve the bond issue in the coming weeks for the funding plan to work.

Fire Station No. 5 will be a two-story building and will be larger than Fire Station No. 6 to accommodate a ladder truck needed to reach upper stories on the tall buildings at the nearby Ball State University Campus. IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital is also located near Fire Station No. 5.

Ridenour told the audience he wanted to do more fire stations.

"We had originally intended to do three," he said.

The mayor said the city had to change plans from three new stations to two because of the rejection last June of a solar project that would have provided revenue to the city. A solar field had been planned for 53 vacant acres at the former site of a General Motors transmission plant on Eighth Street. An estimated $500,000 would have been delivered to the city coffers annually over the life of the project. Cost to the city was estimated at $11.7 million. All four Democrats on Council voted with Republican Council member Troy Ingram to kill the solar project 5-4.

"It's good news," Ridenour said of the state of the city. "It's not all perfect, but it's good news."

He took the opportunity to describe the financial challenges at the city when he came into office in January 2020 with 18 negative accounts that had a combined $3.3 million deficit as well as EDIT funds being overdrawn by $3.3 million.

Ridenour also said the city was one step away from junk bond status and the Local Road and Street Fund carried a $1.93 million deficit.

"Now I will admit I reached out to the state and said 'Can we pay the back over time?' and they said, 'No.' So you know how much paving we did in 2020 out of the Street Department? Zero.

"But we paid it back and we started fresh. So we actually lost a year ... I know the streets are not ideal but there has already been some improvement, and there are already plans in place for more improvement."

Ridenour recounted his efforts to have new housing stock built in the the city and said that through his administration's efforts there are 270 new dwellings in Muncie that have already been built or are on their way to being built. Much of the housing falls into the south central part of the city where the new master plan for the community called for housing to be built to help stabilize neighborhoods.

Ridenour said he has bolstered pay in public safety department by 7% to 9% and claims it would have been more if the solar project had been approved.

He also cited his work to upgrade the city parks as a direct way to improve quality of life. The administration plans to continue installing splash pads, create a fishing park on the southside called Tillpond and invest in the former Lafferty Field at McCulloch Park, with an artificial surface and new lighting thanks to help from the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.

Ridenour said he has deliberately kept new projects outside of tax increment financing districts so the property tax dollars flow to the city's general fund rather to the Muncie Redevelopment Commission.

"The only way you build your general fund so it can be self supported is to not have it in a TIF district," he said.

While good for the MRC it is not good for city services that rely on general fund monies, he said.

A total of $46.6 million worth of economic development was deliberately placed outside of TIF districts, Ridenour said.

"We are better off today than we were in 2019," the mayor said at the conclusion of the speech.

He said he was different than a lot of others who have run for office and noted that when he decided who to hire for his administration's 12 department heads, he had never met four of them before.

"I don't make a lot of promises," he said. "I am not your typical politician and that's one of the things helping this city."

Today the total cash funds at the city have gone from $19.4 million 2019 to $22.1 million as of Dec. 31, 2022.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ridenour State of City looks ahead to two new fire stations