Town manager warns Clarksville could lose nearly $4.7 million if regional fire territory includes ambulance service

Town Manager Beatty told the Clarksville Town Council that a proposal to create a regional fire territory in neighboring Jeffersonville and Utica Township could impose substantial fiscal pain if the territory includes an ambulance service.

"When you combine all of these items together, the town of Clarksville over the 3 year period will take a tax reduction in revenue of just short of $4,700,000," Beatty said, urging council members and residents to attend the Jeffersonville hearing. He detailed revenue lines that would be affected, including a projected $489,000 hit to Clark County vehicle excise tax and reductions in economic-development revenue and public-safety shared funds.

Beatty said much of the proposed territory's higher $28.5 million budget (compared with Jeffersonville's current roughly $14.3 million) appears to stem from adding ambulance service and related personnel and capital costs. He suggested that as written, the presentation is "one size fits all" and does not separate ambulance costs from other territory-design costs.

Clerk-Treasurer Stonecipher added context on the town's budgets, saying the combined general-fund and fire-territory budgets total roughly $20 million and that a near-$5 million reduction over three years would amount to about one-quarter of that revenue stream. Council members pressed for additional detail on what costs would remain at the county level and how removal of Jeffersonville and Utica Township from county ambulance contracts could change Clarksville's share of ongoing obligations.

The council did not take formal action at the meeting; Beatty said he will present a resolution opposing the creation of a fire territory that includes ambulance service at the council's March 4 meeting and encouraged public attendance at the Jeffersonville hearing scheduled for Thursday at 5:00 p.m.