Fishers Town Council-Learn From Others’ Mistakes

Much to my dismay, I saw the nation go blue on election day yesterday. Even our great state of Indiana followed suit. What went wrong??? Well, Republicans stopped behaving like Republicans once they were elected. I hope that the 100% Republican Fishers Town Council learns from the mistakes of their friends in the US Congress. Republicans are supposed to stand for SMALLER GOVERNMENT, LESS TAXES. When a candidate puts an R next to his or her name, that’s supposed to mean something. A note to our friends on the council : ANNEXATION IS IN DIRECT CONTRAST TO THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. I hope that everyone has learned an important lesson from the election of 2006. Fishers Town Council – Don’t take Republicans for granted

Comments from old saynotofishers.com web site

Gary Allen at 11/09/2006 10:09 AM
I will be a new resident of the “un”annexed area and a long time observer of the annex issue. It is amazing how passion for the subject becomes so strong from some people. They let their heart take over and get defensive with anyone who trys to bring a new perspective. I have been reading “atgeist” and “atfishers” regularly and find it amazing that passion over brains take over. What are the real issues? So far I have seen that the cost increase of the new taxes at 22%. Is this correct – NO! A taxing district cannot make a windfall of money of a recent annexation. The new houses annexed must be put in to the entire tax base, and then recalculated. So what will the increase be, if your so much against it comes up with the real answers to this? Ask the experts. What happens when your area cannot pay the fire bill again? Will your taxes go up to pay for the emergency service? Or will the township turn you over to the “volunteer” fire department of McCordsville? Then watch your insurance rates increase. To the residents of the “annexed” area, you should be more involved too. This affects you as well. If these homes get annexed your taxes decrease. Give me non-passionate facts, not your opinion. Then maybe I’ll with draw my name from volunteer annexation. By the way Republican.

Mike Fisher at 11/15/2006 06:08 PM
Well Gary, let me offer this: the 22% tax increase is based on the numbers provided by the Town of Fishers; even they said at the beginning that it would be a 14% increase, but they had initially calculated the numbers wrong. The tax rate in Fishers has not gone down nor has there been a decrease (only increases) in homeowners’ property taxes, despite the extensive level of annexations undertaken by the Town over the last several years; as such, the likelihood of a tax decrease is somewhere around nil. Yes, the Township owed money for fire services and chose to sell the building to Fishers in exchange for enough funding to cover expenses for four years. After which, there may or may not be a small tax increase to cover fire/EMS services. Keep in mind, the Township never charged Fishers rent for using the building. Nonetheless, any tax increase for fire/EMS would be significantly less than town-based property taxes–we’re only talking about $1.6 million per year. You are right to the extent that a taxing district cannot reap a windfall and keep all of the money; per Indiana Code, they have to demonstrate in the Fiscal Plans how they will use the money to the benefit of the area to be annexed. However, if you had reviewed the Fiscal Plans offered by the Town you would clearly see that the numbers don’t add up (mostly because not much attention was paid to preparing the plans because they thought no one would actually look).