Firefighters In Morgan County Urge Trustees For More Funds

Source: WISH-TV / other

CAMBY, Ind. — Firefighters in one township in Morgan County are hoping to get a little more financial help from their trustees as they try to figure out a township budget for 2025.

The trustees rejected a proposed budget for the township at their meeting on Tuesday.

Nathan Meredith, who is the firefighters’ union rep for Madison Township, said this week that they have outdated equipment that needs to be either replaced or upgraded. Their primary tanker truck is 17 years old and has a water pump that is on its last leg.

“What this means for the citizens of Madison Township is when they call 911 for an emergency, they have to question whether we have the adequate equipment to be able to protect them,” Meredith told WISH-TV.

For perspective, up-to-date tanker trucks only have a life span of about ten years at the maximum.

Furthermore, Meredith says they lack the manpower to properly cover their territory. They have just seven full-time firefighters and two paramedics. They’d like to be able to hire two more fighters and one additional paramedic. But, he says the pay scale for these positions is lacking.

“(Firefighters) can go to neighboring and comparable departments and make 10 to 20 thousand dollars more doing the same job,” Meredith said.

Meredith said his department has requested $30,000 more in their budget for the coming year to cover the hiring of one new firefighter. If the budget had been approved at Tuesday’s meeting it would have meant a slight increase in property taxes on those living in Madison Township to cover that increase.

There has also been talk of moving the fire department back to being on a volunteer basis.

“It would fail the township if they took us back to being a volunteer department,” Meredith said. “It would end up costing the citizens of this township not only their safety but it will cost them more money in the long run than following by giving us a fire tax increase.”

It’s not clear where the matter of the township’s budget goes from here.

Firefighters In Morgan County Urge Trustees For More Funds For Equipment, Manpower was originally published on wibc.com