UTICA, Ind. (WDRB) — Lula Morrow has lived in Utica her entire life. She remembers a time when the town felt simpler, quieter and more self-sufficient.
“It is not the old Utica I grew up in,” she said Thursday. “It has changed a whole lot.”
One of the starkest changes is the town’s emergency services. For years, New Chapel EMS and Fire, operating through the Utica Volunteer Fire Department, provided vital emergency response. But that service crumbled under controversy when Jamey Noel exploited New Chapel as his personal ATM, selling off fire trucks and leaving the town without adequate emergency response. Now, to rebuild, the town faces a looming 30% property tax increase.
“There’s no getting away from it,” Morrow said. “If they do it, they do it. You don’t have a choice but to pay it, right?”
Few deny reestablishing a fire department is necessary. But the cost — and the reasons behind it — leave many residents uneasy.
Utica is no longer the small, quiet town it once was. Growth is undeniable.
“It’s growing for sure,” D.J. McCartan said Thursday. “We’ve got apartments going up down the street. Nice little neighborhoods popping up everywhere.”
Luxury homes selling for $600,000 or more are being built and bought as fast as they can be constructed. For longtime residents and newcomers alike, the town’s transformation is both exciting and unsettling.
Mike and Debbie Ryan, who moved to Utica a year ago, are aware of the impending tax hike and hope a more measured solution can be found.
“I do hope they get this resolved,” Mike Ryan said. “And I do hope there isn’t a 30% increase. We can only hope.”
The burden, many argue, shouldn’t fall solely on Utica homeowners.
“I think what would be reasonable is an entire county rate that’s equivalent for everyone,” one resident suggested Thursday. “Whatever criminal or scandalous behavior occurred, it’s not the individual homeowner’s responsibility. We in Utica shouldn’t bear a disproportionate piece of what it’s going to take to fix this.”
While the town’s future is full of promise, the path forward is complicated and expensive. Rebuilding Utica’s emergency services will require both financial investment and trust, two things that residents are struggling to reconcile as their town evolves.
The board designated with establishing a fire service didn’t take a vote Thursday night. Three members of the board were removed by Clark County commissioners, and a new board must be approved before any action is taken.
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