CHAPTER 13. TOWNSHIP FIRE PROTECTION AND EMERGENCY SERVICES
IC 36-8-13
Chapter 13. Township Fire Protection and Emergency Services
IC 36-8-13-1
Application of chapter
Sec. 1. This chapter applies to all townships. However, this
chapter does not apply to a township in which the fire department of
the township has been consolidated under IC 36-3-1-6.1.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65. Amended by P.L.227-2005,
SEC.49.
IC 36-8-13-2
Establishment of fire protection; procedure
Sec. 2. If a majority of the owners of taxable real property
residing within and owning real property within that part of a
township located outside the corporate boundaries of a municipality
petition the township executive and legislative body to provide fire
protection in that part of the township, the executive and legislative
body shall grant the petition and proceed without delay to provide for
fire protection. The executive and legislative body shall determine
which of the methods in section 3 of this chapter for providing fire
protection in townships will be followed.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65.
IC 36-8-13-3
Authorized methods of providing fire protection; preference for
employment
Sec. 3. (a) The executive of a township, with the approval of the
legislative body, may do the following:
(1) Purchase firefighting and emergency services apparatus and
equipment for the township, provide for the housing, care,
maintenance, operation, and use of the apparatus and equipment
to provide services within the township but outside the
corporate boundaries of municipalities, and employ full-time or
part-time personnel to operate the apparatus and equipment and
to provide services in that area. Preference in employment
under this section shall be given according to the following
priority:
(A) A war veteran who has been honorably discharged from
the United States armed forces.
(B) A person whose mother or father was a:
(i) firefighter of a unit;
(ii) municipal police officer; or
(iii) county police officer;
who died in the line of duty (as defined in IC 5-10-10-2).
The executive of a township may give a preference for
employment under this section to a person who was employed
full-time or part-time by another township to provide fire
protection and emergency services and has been laid off by the
township. The executive of a township may also give a
preference for employment to a firefighter laid off by a city
under IC 36-8-4-11. A person described in this subdivision may
not receive a preference for employment unless the person
applies for employment and meets all employment requirements
prescribed by law, including physical and age requirements, and
all employment requirements prescribed by the fire department.
(2) Contract with a municipality in the township or in a
contiguous township that maintains adequate firefighting or
emergency services apparatus and equipment to provide fire
protection or emergency services for the township in
accordance with IC 36-1-7.
(3) Cooperate with a municipality in the township or in a
contiguous township in the purchase, maintenance, and upkeep
of firefighting or emergency services apparatus and equipment
for use in the municipality and township in accordance with
IC 36-1-7.
(4) Contract with a volunteer fire department that has been
organized to fight fires in the township for the use and operation
of firefighting apparatus and equipment that has been purchased
by the township in order to save the private and public property
of the township from destruction by fire, including use of the
apparatus and equipment in an adjoining township by the
department if the department has made a contract with the
executive of the adjoining township for the furnishing of
firefighting service within the township.
(5) Contract with a volunteer fire department that maintains
adequate firefighting service in accordance with IC 36-8-12.
(b) This subsection applies only to townships that provide fire
protection or emergency services or both under subsection (a)(1) and
to municipalities that have some part of the municipal territory
within a township and do not have a full-time paid fire department.
A township may provide fire protection or emergency services or
both without contracts inside the corporate boundaries of the
municipalities if before July 1 of a year the following occur:
(1) The legislative body of the municipality adopts an ordinance
to have the township provide the services without a contract.
(2) The township legislative body passes a resolution approving
the township's provision of the services without contracts to the
municipality.
In a township providing services to a municipality under this section,
the legislative body of either the township or a municipality in the
township may opt out of participation under this subsection by
adopting an ordinance or a resolution, respectively, before July 1 of
a year.
(c) This subsection applies only to a township that:
(1) is located in a county containing a consolidated city;
(2) has at least three (3) included towns (as defined in
IC 36-3-1-7) that have all municipal territory completely within
the township on January 1, 1996; and
(3) provides fire protection or emergency services, or both,
under subsection (a)(1);
and to included towns (as defined in IC 36-3-1-7) that have all the
included town's municipal territory completely within the township.
A township may provide fire protection or emergency services, or
both, without contracts inside the corporate boundaries of the
municipalities if before August 1 of the year preceding the first
calendar year to which this subsection applies the township
legislative body passes a resolution approving the township's
provision of the services without contracts to the municipality. The
resolution must identify the included towns to which the resolution
applies. In a township providing services to a municipality under this
section, the legislative body of the township may opt out of
participation under this subsection by adoptinga resolution before
July 1 of a year. A copy of a resolution adopted under this subsection
shall be submitted to the executive of each included town covered by
the resolution, the county auditor, and the department of local
government finance.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65. Amended by P.L.269-1993,
SEC.1; P.L.2-1995, SEC.136; P.L.54-1996, SEC.2; P.L.1-1999,
SEC.101; P.L.90-2002, SEC.494; P.L.95-2003, SEC.3; P.L.97-2004,
SEC.131; P.L.182-2009(ss), SEC.439; P.L.110-2010, SEC.37.
IC 36-8-13-4
Township firefighting fund; tax levy; donations
Sec. 4. (a) Each township shall annually establish a township
firefighting fund which is to be the exclusive fund used by the
township for the payment of costs attributable to providing fire
protection or emergency services under the methods prescribed in
section 3 of this chapter and for no other purposes. The money in the
fund may be paid out by the township executive with the consent of
the township legislative body.
(b) Each township may levy, for each year, a tax for the township
firefighting fund. Other than a township providing fire protection or
emergency services or both to municipalities in the township under
section 3(b) or 3(c) of this chapter, the tax levy is on all taxable real
and personal property in the township outside the corporate
boundaries of municipalities. Subject to the levy limitations
contained in IC 6-1.1-18.5, the township levy is to be in an amount
sufficient to pay all costs attributable to fire protection and
emergency services that are not paid from other revenues available
to the fund. The tax rate and levy shall be established in accordance
with the procedures set forth in IC 6-1.1-17.
(c) In addition to the tax levy and service charges received under
IC 36-8-12-13 and IC 36-8-12-16, the executive may accept
donations to the township for the purpose of firefighting and other
emergency services and shall place them in the fund, keeping an
accurate record of the sums received. A person may also donate
partial payment of any purchase of firefighting or other emergency
services equipment made by the township.
(d) If a fire department serving a township dispatches fire
apparatus or personnel to a building or premises in the township in
response to:
(1) an alarm caused by improper installation or improper
maintenance; or
(2) a drill or test, if the fire department is not previously
notified that the alarm is a drill or test;
the township may impose a fee or service charge upon the owner of
the property. However, if the owner of property that constitutes the
owner's residence establishes that the alarm is under a maintenance
contract with an alarm company and that the alarm company has
been notified of the improper installation or maintenance of the
alarm, the alarm company is liable for the payment of the fee or
service charge.
(e) The amount of a fee or service charge imposed under
subsection (d) shall be determined by the township legislative body.
All money received by the township from the fee or service charge
must be deposited in the township's firefighting fund.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65. Amended by P.L.352-1987,
SEC.1; P.L.316-1989, SEC.1; P.L.343-1989(ss), SEC.23;
P.L.63-1991, SEC.9; P.L.269-1993, SEC.2; P.L.70-1995, SEC.10;
P.L.54-1996, SEC.3; P.L.82-2001, SEC.3.
IC 36-8-13-4.5
Payment of township provided fire protection or emergency
services; sources of funds; sufficiency of levy; donations
Sec. 4.5. (a) This section applies to a township that provides fire
protection or emergency services or both to a municipality in the
township under section 3(b) or 3(c) of this chapter.
(b) With the consent of the township legislative body, the
township executive shall pay the expenses for fire protection and
emergency services in the township, both inside and outside the
corporate boundaries of participating municipalities, from any
combination of the following township funds, regardless of when the
funds were established:
(1) The township firefighting fund under section 4 of this
chapter.
(2) The cumulative building and equipment fund under
IC 36-8-14.
(3) The debt fund under sections 6 and 6.5 of this chapter.
(c) Subject to the levy limitations contained in IC 6-1.1-18.5, the
tax rate and levy for the township firefighting fund, the cumulative
building and equipment fund, or the debt fund is to be in an amount
sufficient to pay all costs attributable to fire protection or emergency
services that are provided to the township and the participating
municipalities that are not paid from other available revenues. The
tax rate and levy for each fund shall be established in accordance
with the procedures set forth in IC 6-1.1-17 and apply both inside
and outside the corporate boundaries of participating municipalities.
(d) The township executive may accept donations for the purpose
of firefighting and emergency services. The township executive shall
place donations in the township firefighting fund. A person may
donate partial payment of a purchase of firefighting or emergency
services equipment made by the township.
As added by P.L.269-1993, SEC.3. Amended by P.L.1-1994,
SEC.181; P.L.1-1994, SEC.182; P.L.37-1994, SEC.2; P.L.54-1996,
SEC.4.
IC 36-8-13-4.6
Maximum permissible property tax levy; adjustment where
township imposes levy to pay fire protection and emergency
services expenses
Sec. 4.6. (a) For townships and municipalities that elect to have
the township provide fire protection and emergency services under
section 3(b) of this chapter, the department of local government
finance shall adjust each township's and each municipality's
maximum permissible levy in the year following the year in which
the change is elected, as determined under IC 6-1.1-18.5-3, to reflect
the change from providing fire protection under a contract between
the municipality and the township to allowing the township to
impose a property tax levy on the taxable property located within the
corporate boundaries of each municipality. Each municipality's
maximum permissible property tax levy shall be reduced by the
amount of the municipality's property tax levy that was imposed by
the municipality to meet the obligations to the township under the
fire protection contract. The township's maximum permissible
property tax levy shall be increased by the product of:
(1) one and five-hundredths (1.05); multiplied by
(2) the amount the township received:
(A) in the year in which the change is elected; and
(B) as fire protection contract payments from all
municipalities whose levy is decreased under this section.
(b) For purposes of determining a township's or municipality's
maximum permissible ad valorem property tax levy under
IC 6-1.1-18.5-3 for years following the first year after the year in
which the change is elected, a township's or municipality's maximum
permissible ad valorem property tax levy is the levy after the
adjustment made under subsection (a).
As added by P.L.269-1993, SEC.4. Amended by P.L.2-1995,
SEC.137; P.L.90-2002, SEC.495.
IC 36-8-13-4.7
Township providing fire protection and emergency services;
maximum permissible property tax levy
Sec. 4.7. (a) For a township that elects to have the township
provide fire protection and emergency services under section 3(c) of
this chapter, the department of local government finance shall adjust
the township's maximum permissible levy in the year following the
year in which the change is elected, as determined under
IC 6-1.1-18.5-3, to reflect the change from providing fire protection
or emergency services under a contract between the municipality and
the township to allowing the township to impose a property tax levy
on the taxable property located within the corporate boundaries of
each municipality. For the ensuing calendar year, the township's
maximum permissible property tax levy shall be increased by the
product of:
(1) one and five-hundredths (1.05); multiplied by
(2) the amount the township contracted or billed to receive,
regardless of whether the amount was collected:
(A) in the year in which the change is elected; and
(B) as fire protection or emergency service payments from
the municipalities or residents of the municipalities covered
by the election under section 3(c) of this chapter.
The maximum permissible levy for a general fund or other fund of
a municipality covered by the election under section 3(c) of this
chapter shall be reduced for the ensuing calendar year to reflect the
change to allowing the township to impose a property tax levy on the
taxable property located within the corporate boundaries of the
municipality. The total reduction in the maximum permissible levies
for all electing municipalities must equal the amount that the
maximum permissible levy for the township is increased under this
subsection for contracts or billings, regardless of whether the amount
was collected, less the amount actually paid from sources other than
property tax revenue.
(b) For purposes of determining a township's and each
municipality's maximum permissible ad valorem property tax levy
under IC 6-1.1-18.5-3 for years following the first year after the year
in which the change is elected, a township's and each municipality's
maximum permissible ad valorem property tax levy is the levy after
the adjustment made under subsection (a).
(c) The township may use the amount of a maximum permissible
property tax levy computed under this section in setting budgets and
property tax levies for any year in which the election in section 3(c)
of this chapter is in effect. A county board of tax adjustment may not
reduce a budget or tax levy solely because the budget or levy is based
on the maximum permissible property tax levy computed under this
section.
(d) Section 4.6 of this chapter does not apply to a property tax
levy or a maximum property tax levy subject to this section.
As added by P.L.54-1996, SEC.5. Amended by P.L.90-2002,
SEC.496; P.L.224-2007, SEC.130; P.L.146-2008, SEC.783.
IC 36-8-13-5
Purchase of firefighting apparatus and equipment; installment
contracts
Sec. 5. After a sufficient appropriation has been made and
approved and is available for the purchase of firefighting apparatus
and equipment, including housing, the township executive, with the
approval of the township legislative body, may purchase it for the
township on an installment conditional sale or mortgage contract
running for a period not exceeding:
(1) six (6) years; or
(2) fifteen (15) years for a township that:
(A) has a total assessed value of sixty million dollars
($60,000,000) or less, as determined by the department of
local government finance; and
(B) is purchasing the firefighting equipment with funding
from the:
(i) state or its instrumentalities; or
(ii) federal government or its instrumentalities.
The purchase shall be amortized in equal or approximately equal
installments payable on January 1 and July 1 each year.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65. Amended by P.L.83-1998,
SEC.3; P.L.90-2002, SEC.497; P.L.178-2002, SEC.134.
IC 36-8-13-6
Purchase of firefighting apparatus and equipment; loans; tax levy
Sec. 6. (a) Subject to section 6.5 of this chapter, the executive and
legislative body, on behalf of the township, may also borrow the
necessary money from a financial institution in Indiana to make the
purchase on the same terms. They shall, on behalf of the township,
execute and deliver to the institution the negotiable note or bond of
the township for the sum borrowed. The note or bond must bear
interest, with both principal and interest payable in equal or
approximately equal installments on January 1 and July 1 each year
over a period not exceeding six (6) years.
(b) The first installment of principal and interest on a contract,
chattel mortgage, note, or bond is due on the next January 1 or July
1 following the first tax collection for which it is possible for the
township to levy a tax. The executive and legislative body shall
appropriate and levy a tax each year sufficient to pay the obligation
according to its terms. An obligation of the township executed under
this chapter is a valid and binding obligation of the township,
notwithstanding any tax limitation, debt limitation, bonding,
borrowing, or other statute to the contrary.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65. Amended by P.L.41-1993,
SEC.50.
IC 36-8-13-6.5
Objection by taxpayers; department of local government finance
hearing and action; appeal
Sec. 6.5. (a) If the executive and the legislative body determine
that money should be borrowed under section 6 of this chapter, not
less than ten (10) taxpayers in the township who disagree with the
determination may file a petition in the office of the county auditor
not more than thirty (30) days after notice of the determination is
given. The petition must state the taxpayers' objections and the
reasons why the taxpayers believe the borrowing to be unnecessary
or unwise.
(b) The county auditor shall immediately certify a copy of the
petition, together with other data necessary to present the questions
involved, to the department of local government finance. Upon
receipt of the certified petition and other data, the department of
local government finance shall fix a time and place for the hearing of
the matter. The hearing shall be held not less than five (5) and not
more than thirty (30) days after the receipt of the certified
documents.
(c) The hearing shall be held in the county where the petition
arose.
(d) Notice of the hearing shall be given by the department of local
government finance to the township and to the first ten (10) taxpayer
petitioners listed on the petition by letter. The letter shall be sent to
the first ten (10) taxpayer petitioners at the taxpayer's usual place of
residence at least five (5) days before the date of the hearing.
(e) A:
(1) taxpayer who signed a petition filed under subsection (a); or
(2) township against which a petition under subsection (a) is
filed;
may petition for judicial review of the final determination of the
department of local government finance under subsection (a). The
petition must be filed in the tax court not more than forty-five (45)
days after the date of the department's final determination.
As added by P.L.41-1993, SEC.51. Amended by P.L.90-2002,
SEC.498; P.L.256-2003, SEC.38.
IC 36-8-13-7
Purchase of firefighting apparatus and equipment; procedure
Sec. 7. (a) All purchases of firefighting apparatus and equipment
shall be made in the manner provided by statute for the purchase of
township supplies. If the amount involved is sufficient to require
notice under statutes for bids in connection with the purchase of
apparatus or equipment, the notice must offer all bidders the
opportunity of proposing to sell the apparatus and equipment to the
township upon a conditional sale or mortgage contract.
(b) A bidder proposing to sell on a conditional sale or mortgage
contract shall state in his bid the proposed interest rate and terms of
it, to be considered by the township executive and legislative body
in determining the best bid received.
(c) All bids submitted must specify the cash price at which the
bidder proposes to sell the apparatus or equipment to the township
so that the executive and legislative body may determine whether it
is in the best interest of the township to purchase the apparatus or
equipment on the terms of a conditional sale or mortgage contract
proposed by the bidder or to purchase it for cash if sufficient funds
are available or can be raised by negotiating a loan with a financial
institution in accordance with this section.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65.
IC 36-8-13-8
Township fire departments; insurance coverage
Sec. 8. A township having a regularly organized fire department
employing full-time firefighters may procure at the township's
expense:
(1) an insurance policy for each member of the department
insuring the member against the loss of his life or
dismemberment while in the performance of his regularly
assigned duties; and
(2) group insurance providing supplemental income protection
for a member of the department who has been injured during
the course of his employment.
The insurance coverage shall be selected with the consent of the
members and is supplemental to other benefits provided the injured
member by law.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.65.
IC 36-8-13-9
Payment of line of duty health care expenses for firefighters
Sec. 9. (a) A township shall pay for the care of a full-time, paid
firefighter who suffers:
(1) an injury; or
(2) contracts an illness;
during the performance of the firefighter's duty.
(b) The township shall pay for the following expenses incurred by
a firefighter described in subsection (a):
(1) Medical and surgical care.
(2) Medicines and laboratory, curative, and palliative agents
and means.
(3) X-ray, diagnostic, and therapeutic service, including during
the recovery period.
(4) Hospital and special nursing care if the physician or surgeon
in charge considers it necessary for proper recovery.
(c) Expenditures required by subsection (a) shall be paid from the
township firefighting fund established by section 4 of this chapter.
(d) A township that has paid for the care of a firefighter under
subsection (a) has a cause of action for reimbursement of the amount
paid under subsection (a) against any third party against whom the
firefighter has a cause of action for an injury sustained because of,
or an illness caused by, the third party. The township's cause of
action under this subsection is in addition to, and not in lieu of, the
cause of action of the firefighter against the third party.
As added by P.L.150-2002, SEC.4.