(WNDU) – Board members from seven communities voted Tuesday night to merge the Clay and Penn fire territories — a move fire chiefs say is necessary to maintain service quality amid tax barriers and staffing challenges.
The merger will bring together Clay, German, Harris and Penn townships, along with Osceola, Indian Village and Roseland into one fire territory starting in 2027.
Why the merger is needed
Clay Fire Chief Jaren Kilian and Penn Fire Chief Michael Gerndt said the idea to merge started about a year and a half ago. They said the need for their services is increasing but due to tax barriers, they can’t increase firefighter wages so they’re losing people to neighboring departments.
“Our inability to pay a fair market rate for our staff and firefighters has become overwhelming,” Kilian said. “And the only option we have moving forward, unfortunately, is to seek out alternative options and that ends in a fire territory expansion for us.”
Call volumes have increased significantly in both territories. Clay Fire ran about 4,000 calls a year 15 years ago. Last year, the department ran over 6,100 calls for service. Kilian said the new fire territory would start out with about 8,500 calls for service, and he anticipates demand will exceed 10,000 calls within the first three years.
Penn Fire has seen roughly a 30% increase in total call volume over the past 15 years.
“With the rate of expansion and population, there’s no question that that’s just going to continue to rise,” Gerndt said.
Tax impact
Taxpayers in Clay Fire’s territory currently pay a fire protection tax rate of 25.97 cents per $100 of assessed value while those in Penn’s fire territory pay 27.88 cents per $100 of assessed value. With the merger, the projected tax rate would be 45.37 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The fire chiefs said this is only an increase on the fire portion of residents’ taxes and it’s all to ensure services stay top-tier amid an increase in calls.
“It’s been a vicious circle for the past three to four, maybe even five years where we’ve, this has been happening,” Gerndt said. “And it’s come to a point where we’re at a crossroads, where we have to do something or we run the risk of not being able to provide the level of service that we’re currently providing.”
What the merger means
Kilian said the merger will enhance services by allowing more effective deployment and faster emergency response.
“The necessary obligations for fire services to start partnering have become much more than just a tax issue,” Kilian said. “This gives us the ability to also enhance some of the services by deploying more effectively. This gives us the ability to respond to emergencies faster. And no longer are we worried about geopolitical boundaries because we are all the exact same agency and entity.”
Chief Gerndt said when they merge next year, people might see different building names and the staff may have to learn the new territory, but everyone is excited for this.
“They made the right decision this evening and it is overwhelming just to know that we’re gonna be able to continue the services we’ve been providing to our communities,” he said.
Clay Township Trustee Sean O’Brien is also proud community leaders recognized its first responders through this expansion approval.
“Tonight was a chance to repay the loyalty that the men and women have shown all of us for decades,” O’Brien said. “We have a high level of fire service in our community, it’s fantastic.”
Editor’s Note: We previously reported the tax rate was per $1,000 of assessed value but have since clarified that it’s per $100 of assessed value.
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