INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Wayne Township officials on Thursday said their fire department could run low on money in a little more than a year without drastic changes.

Township officials this week informed employees they will begin the process to potentially merge the Wayne Township Fire Department with the Indianapolis Fire Department. Township spokesperson Jeff Harris said officials have discussed a merger informally for years but decided to start the process when they calculated the department could face a financial crunch by 2025. The department currently employs 130 firefighters and 30 civilian EMS employees across five stations.

“As our tax base and population have remained the same, the cost of operating a fire department has gone up,” Harris said. “We are operating multimillion-dollar equipment, we have retiree pensions, healthcare, not to mention the salaries.”

Harris said officials determined their only options are cutting services, borrowing money, or merging with IFD, and the first two weren’t something they wanted to do. Harris said next month, the township board will introduce a resolution to authorize the merger, which will trigger a 30-day public comment period.

Fire department mergers are nothing new in Marion County. The fire departments of Washington, Warren, Perry, Franklin, and Lawrence townships all merged with IFD between 2007 and 2011. The Beech Grove Fire Department joined them in 2021. Harris said in each case, IFD added the department’s personnel, equipment, and stations to its own inventory and nobody lost their jobs. He said the city of Indianapolis has already said the same thing would happen with Wayne Township.

“For residents, you’re going to see the same same level of service and hopefully even improved response times,” Harris said. “You’re going to see the same people, the same commitment to the community, they’ll just be wearing a different badge and have a different sign on the building.”

The merger would mean IFD’s service area would cover most of Marion County, except for Pike Township, Decatur Township, the city of Lawrence, and the town of Speedway. Harris said it would mean lower property taxes for some Wayne Township homeowners. Since IFD covers a much larger territory, he said that department is able to charge a lower tax rate. He said the difference could mean a savings of about $175 a year for a home with a $100,000 assessed value.

If the township board approves the merger, the Indianapolis City-County Council would have to approve it through its usual legislative process. Harris said he doesn’t have a specific timeline, but the entire process should be completed sometime in 2024.