(A) The Town Council hereby joins together with the Trustee and the Township Board of Hart Township under the provisions of I.C. 36-8-19 to establish a fire protection territory.
(B) The area constituting the fire protection territory shall include the entire areas of the Town of Lynnville and Hart Township.
(C) The provider unit shall be the Town of Lynnville.
(D) The participating units shall be the Town of Lynnville and Hart Township.
(E) Upon the adoption of this section, the participating units agree that the property tax rates imposed on all taxable properly in the town and Hart Township shall be at a uniform tax rate for both participating units.
(F) The agreement to establish the fire protection territory shall include the creation of a Fire Protection Territory Fund by the town from which all expenses of operating and maintaining the fire protection services within the territory, including repairs, fees, salaries, depreciation on all depreciable assets, rents, supplies, contingencies and other expenses lawfully incurred within the territory shall be paid. The money in the Fund may be used to repay any advances made by the town to the Fund or to transfers to the Equipment Replacement Fund.
(G) The budget for the Fire Protection Fund shall be approved by the Town Council, following review and recommendation by the Trustee and Township Board. The budget shall be set in an amount sufficient to meet the expenses of operation and maintenance of fire protection services within the territory and to maintain an appropriate operating reserve. After adoption of the fire protection budget, the participating units shall establish the levy required to fund the budget as estimated by the provider unit subject only to applicable tax levy controls.
(H) The agreement to establish the fire protection territory shall include the establishment of an Equipment Replacement Fund, to be used to purchase fire protection equipment, including housing. The participating units agree to impose a uniform property tax of $0.0333 per hundred dollars of assessed valuation to provide for the accumulation of money in the Fund to purchase fire protection equipment; to allow the incurrence of debt to purchase fire protection equipment and impose a property tax to retire the loan; and/or to allow the transfer of an amount from the Fire Protection Territory Fund to the Fire Equipment Replacement Fund not to exceed 5% of the levy for the Fire Protection Territory Fund for that year.
(I) The agreement shall also authorize the participating units to do any and all acts provided under the provisions of I.C. 36-8-19.
(Res. 2007-03, passed 2-6-2007; Ord. 2007-02, passed 2-6-2007)