St. Joseph County Fire Territory wins in unanimous board vote calling decision 'obvious'

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — Portage and Warren townships' board members approved the St. Joseph County Fire Territory with a unanimous vote Thursday night at Portage’s Fire Station 41.

Portage had already dissolved its territory with Centre Township in order to create the new partnership with Warren.

Portage township board member Cheryl Ashe said she wasn’t sure about her decision to vote in favor of Resolution 10-2024 to adopt the new territory until learning information at a March 14 meeting when Warren trustee Steve Downey revealed the amount of mutual aid that Warren Fire already serviced to Portage township in the past year.

In about 150 calls in mutual aid, Downey averaged, about 125 of those calls were to residents in the unincorporated portions of Portage township.

To Ashe, a partnership with Warren made sense “because they were serving us anyway, but they weren’t getting tax money for it,” she said.

“If we want quality firemen, we’ve got to pay for them,” she said. “People have to remember that someone’s got to be at a fire station on Christmas, on New Year's, on a night when children are singing. It’s the firefighters. We’ve got to realize that we’re paying them not just to fight the fires, we’re paying them to be there, away from their families. When we were with Centre, we weren't going to be able to pay.”

Portage township secretary Ryan Hill was also in favor of a firefighter salary increase and making sure first responders are paid well enough to get the qualifications they need to best serve the county’s residents.“Firemen are the first ones on the scene if there’s a fire, a car crash, heart attack or any of those things,” Hill said. “When looking at the issues we were having, Warren was receptive to it. Once it got into the numbers, it seemed obvious.”

Both Downey and Portage trustee Jason Critchlow look forward to having other St. Joseph County townships join their territory in the near future. Downey named Olive and Greene townships as possibilities, saying Olive was interested in the territory but wanted to see it approved first.

If more township’s join, the territory’s legal counsel, Pete Agostino, said the fire levy could go up again, including an increase in property taxes for residents in the affected areas.

“It depends on who’s coming in, what their existing net assessed evaluation is and what the service needs would be,” he told The Tribune but added that it’s too early to say. “If you’re taking on an area that’s lacking service where you’re going to provide more service, then you’re going to have an increase.”

Due to the formation of the St. Joseph County Fire Territory, Warren and Portage residents, living outside of South Bend city limits, will see an increase on their 2025 property taxes if their property is below the tax cap.

The Tribune previously reported that Portage residents can see a 13.22% increase. Property assessed at $100,600 and above will see no increase in the property tax due to being at the cap.

● A property valued at $50,000 could see an annual increase of $41.85

● A property valued at $75,000 could see an annual increase of $62.78

● A property valued at $100,000 could see an annual increase of $108.82

Warren residents can see a 21.83% increase. Property assessed at $108,500 and above will see no increase in the property tax due to being at the cap.

● A property valued at $50,000 could see an annual increase of $68.55

● A property valued at $75,000 could see an annual increase of $102.83

● A property valued at $100,000 could see an annual increase of $183.63

Warren Township firefighter and Local 4927 Union President Jay Pendergrass wasn’t surprised the resolution passed, saying his next step is to figure out where to go from here, but he anticipates the transition to have Portage fire personnel join their fold to be pretty seamless.

St. Joseph County Fire Territory will take effect July 1, 2024, with the fire service starting Jan. 1, 2025. During that time, the territory will focus on hiring.

SWCFT Public Information Officer Jesse Binns, who works out of Portage’s Station 41, discussed the amount of time between July 2024 and January 2025 when Southwest Central Fire Territory personnel will decide to work for the St. Joseph County Fire Territory or stay with Centre.

The St. Joseph County Fire Territory offers an increase in salary from $53,000 to $75,000 and added retirement benefits. 

“We don’t really care what name is on our (uniform), we’re here because we love the job,” Binns said, adding that he’s excited to get a raise. As for working with Warren, he said, “We’ll all work together just fine.”

Email Tribune staff writer Camille Sarabia at csarabia@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Portage and Warren boards vote for new fire territory, increasing pay