If you haven’t heard by now, on Tuesday night (January 22) the Fishers Town Council voted 6 – 0 to adopt the three Geist forced annexation ordinances. Councilor Charlie White was absent from the meeting, which is why there were only 6 votes.
The GUO and just about everyone else expected the Town Council to adopt the ordinances, despite the fact that doing so is clearly NOT the will of the people, despite the fact that it will now cost the taxpayers of Fishers even more money (hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars) to fight this in court—because the Geist property owners will take them to court, and despite the fact that even the state General Assembly is considering legislation that would make forced annexations illegal because such annexations are simply wrong.
We now have 90 days from the date the ordinances are published to obtain remonstration petitions from at least 65% of the property owners of each of the three Geist annexation areas! The clock has begun ticking.
This week the GUO will be mailing remonstration petitions to each of the property owners affected. When you receive your petition package please carefully follow the directions for signing and returning the signed petitions to the GUO. The signed petitions are due back to the GUO before February 4th.
Remember, our attorneys have said that we have a strong case against this forced annexation, but to present our case we must get to court. Under current Indiana law, the only way we can get to court is to file a remonstrance that includes petitions signed by at least 65% of the property owners of record. Every petition counts.
On a slightly humorous note, prior to the Council vote the Town Council had two lawyers and one consultant make presentations to the Council to explain (a) that the Town is fiscally sound, (b) Geist is leaching off the largess of the Town by using their services without paying for them, and (c) why Geist shouldn’t incorporate itself into its own towns.
The first two items are akin to you paying a beauty consultant to tell you how beautiful (or handsome) you are. “Here’s $10, please tell me how pretty I am.” The latter made no sense whatsoever. But, it would appear that the Town Council has money to burn to pay for a “feel good” session, not to mention that several other town attorneys were present at the meeting.
Sign the petitions and get them back promptly to the GUO—we will prevail!
Now is the time to donate!
Obviously, their Fishers Town Council has unlimited financial resources and would rather spend the taxpayers’ money on fighting Geist than doing good works for their citizens.
Unfortunately, the GUO does not have unlimited resources nor can we simply tax people to pay for legal costs. We are now looking at a protracted legal battle for sure, so please contribute to the legal fund.
You can donate online, or mail a check to GUO, P.O. Box 56023, Indianapolis, IN 46256. Thus far, we saved every Geist homeowner over two years’ worth of additional taxes. Moving this through the courts, if nothing else, could save at least another two years worth of additional taxes.
Using the Fishers Town Council projected tax increase of 16.45%:
| Home Value |
Annual Tax Increase |
Amount Saved So Far |
4 Year Savings |
10% of Savings So Far |
| $250,000 |
$451 |
$902 |
$1,804 |
$90 |
| $500,000 |
$1,010 |
$2,020 |
$4,040 |
$202 |
| $750,000 |
$1,568 |
$3,136 |
$6,272 |
$314 |
| $1,000,000 |
$2,127 |
$4,254 |
$8,508 |
$425 |
If each homeowner gives at least 10% of what you’ve already saved, we will be well funded.
Thank you to everyone who attended the SOS fundraiser and helped to make it such a success! The d.j. was great and got people out on the dance floor after the live auction was over…with the help of some of those SOS drink specials! Also, thank you to Jeff and George who helped create a lively auction for those Colts tickets!!! As always, Ron and Connie Cruthers and the Indianapolis Yacht Club created a wonderful setting for the night. Thank you to everyone who donated the wonderful auction items too!
Jay Hacker and Anne Vaughn delivered the boxes of petitions to the Castleton Post Office on Monday morning. You should receive in the mail today your annexation petition. If you do not want to be annexed by Fishers, please sign the petition and send it back right away. A stamped return envelope has been included for your convenience. Here are some general instructions that need to be followed: