City wins second appeal in fire protection services – property tax case

The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling of the Allen Superior Court that the City of Fort Wayne is entitled to receive the future tax revenues related to fire protection services it provides to certain annexed territories in southwest Allen County. Click here to read the opinion.

The case involves annexed areas in the Southwest Allen County Fire Protection District to which the City now provides fire protection services, and the City’s right to tax revenues for those services. On February 7, 2019, the Allen Superior Court granted summary judgment for the City. The District appealed. Oral argument was held December 11, 2019.

The Court of Appeals held that under the statutory scheme that creates and funds fire protection districts and addresses annexation issues related to these districts, upon annexation and provision of the fire protection services to the annexed territories the City was entitled to receive the assessed tax revenue associated with the territories.

This was the second appeal in the case. In the first the court sided with the City on the question of subject matter jurisdiction. The trial court had dismissed the City’s claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, finding that the City’s claims fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Indiana Tax Court. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the case is an annexation case requiring no consideration of substantive tax law, and that the trial court therefore has subject matter jurisdiction to decide the City’s request for declaratory judgment. Click here to read the 2017 Court of Appeals decision.

In both cases the City was represented by James P. Fenton and Timothy A. Manges of Fletcher Van Gilder.