Fire protection is one of the quietest but fastest-moving pieces of an Indiana property tax bill. Townships, fire protection districts, and fire protection territories all levy property taxes to fund fire and EMS service, and in fast-growing areas those levies have climbed steadily for years. The 2026 General Assembly changed the rules. House Enrolled Act 1210 (HEA 1210-2026) — the session's omnibus Department of Local Government Finance bill — caps rates for new fire districts, ends the population-growth petition process for districts and territories, and rewrites how townships can raise their firefighting levies.
The DLGF followed up with a May 22, 2026 memo from Commissioner Jason Cockerill to all township officials, explaining exactly how the amended township petition process works. Here is what changed and what it means for the fire line on your bill.
First: What a Fire/EMS Levy Is
Indiana funds fire protection through several different unit types, and which one serves your parcel determines what appears on your bill:
| Who provides service | How it is funded | Where it shows on your bill |
|---|---|---|
| Township fire department | Township firefighting (and emergency services) fund levy | Township line of your taxing district |
| Fire protection district | District-wide uniform tax rate (IC 36-8-11) | Special district line |
| Fire protection territory | Territory fund levy billed through the provider unit (IC 36-8-19) | Provider unit's rate |
| Municipal fire department | City or town general/fire levy | City/town line |
Every parcel sits in exactly one taxing district, and your total rate is the sum of the rates of every overlapping unit. Fire funding is baked into one or more of those lines. Our guide to reading your Indiana property tax bill shows where to find the unit-by-unit breakdown.
What HEA 1210 Changed
A hard rate cap on new fire protection districts
A fire protection district established after December 31, 2025 may not impose a tax rate that exceeds $0.40 per $100 of assessed valuation. This amends IC 36-8-11-16. Existing districts are not subject to this cap, but any county considering a new district now designs it around a fixed ceiling.
For context on how a $0.40 rate compares to total rates where you live, see our breakdown of Indiana property tax rates by county for 2026.
Population-growth petitions for districts and territories are gone
Before 2026, a fire protection district (IC 6-1.1-18-29) or a fire protection territory's provider unit (IC 6-1.1-18-29.5) could petition the DLGF to raise its maximum permissible levy based on population growth over the preceding ten years. HEA 1210 repealed both statutes, effective upon passage. Districts and territories can no longer use ten-year population growth as a lever to lift their levy ceilings.
That matters because the maximum levy is the binding constraint on most fire funding. Levies normally grow only by the state's levy growth quotient each year — a formula that is itself changing, as we cover in our look at the new levy growth quotient formula for 2027. The population petitions were the main escape hatch above that growth rate. Two of the three escape hatches are now closed.
Township petitions survive — but only for a narrow group
The township version of the population petition (IC 6-1.1-18-28) still exists, but HEA 1210 rewrote its eligibility. Per the DLGF's May 22, 2026 memo, a township now qualifies only if all three of these are true:
- It previously submitted a petition under this statute after 2016;
- Its past petitions produced rate increases adding up to 0.15 — the prior statutory maximum; and
- Its net assessed value grew over the last two years (2024-pay-2025 and 2025-pay-2026) at between two and four times the maximum levy growth quotient for the preceding year. For 2025, that quotient was 1.04 (4%).
In other words: only townships that already used the old process to its limit, and that are still seeing unusually fast assessed-value growth, can ask for more. For those townships, HEA 1210 permits an additional rate increase — but with two new ceilings:
- The additional rate may not exceed 80% of the amount produced by the statutory population formula; and
- The township's total certified fire fund rate, after the increase, may not exceed $0.20 per $100 of assessed value.
The filing deadline also moved from April 1 to June 1, and the DLGF attached a worksheet-style request form to its memo. The June 1, 2026 window for the first round under the new rules has already closed; the next opportunity comes in 2027.
Note
HEA 1210-2026 is a sweeping DLGF omnibus bill — the same act also contains the disabled veteran deduction changes and dozens of other provisions. Do not confuse it with bills numbered 1210 from other sessions; Indiana bill numbers repeat every year.
Two more fire-funding provisions worth knowing
Fire territory equipment replacement levies are capped. The rate for the levy a fire protection territory imposes to replace equipment is now considered part of the maximum permissible levy and may not exceed $0.0333 per $100 of assessed value.
Counties get allocation authority over fire/EMS income tax revenue. Under the local income tax framework created by the 2025 tax overhaul (SEA 1-2025), counties may adopt an income tax rate dedicated to fire protection and EMS. HEA 1210 lets the county determine the allocation method for that revenue among fire providers — considering each provider's service boundaries and census population — and guarantees an allocation to a township fire department if at least 50% of its fire runs (measured two years prior) were carried out by full-time firefighters paid at least $30,000. HEA 1210 also pushed the SEA 1-2025 local income tax changes from 2028 to 2029, so this authority arrives with the new framework.
What This Means for Property Owners
The practical effects depend on where you live:
- In a new or proposed fire district, the $0.40 cap is a real ceiling. Organizers must design the district's budget around it, which limits how much of the funding burden lands on property tax.
- In an existing district or territory, the repeal of population petitions means the levy ceiling now grows essentially at the levy growth quotient. In fast-growing suburbs, that constrains future rate increases that would previously have been petitioned through.
- In a township-served area, only a handful of townships still qualify to petition, and even they hit a $0.20 rate wall. Rate jumps on the township fire line should become rarer and smaller.
Warning
None of these caps lower an existing rate. If your fire district or territory already levies above the new thresholds, the caps apply to newly established districts and new petitions — not retroactively to certified rates already in place.
Watch your local budget process, too. Levy and rate decisions are adopted in public, and owners have a documented right to weigh in — see our post on the levy ordinance public hearing requirement.
Tip
Pull your most recent tax bill and find the taxing-district rate breakdown (the TS-1 comparison statement). Identify which line funds fire service for your parcel. If that line has grown faster than the rest of your bill over the past few years, HEA 1210's caps are the mechanism most likely to slow it going forward.
Check Your Own Numbers
The rate side of your bill is set by units and the DLGF — but the assessed value side is yours to challenge. A capped fire rate still costs you more every year if your assessment is inflated.
Start with our Indiana property explorer to see your parcel's assessed value and taxing district, or use the property lookup tool to compare your assessment against similar properties nearby. If your value looks high, our tax appeal service builds the evidence and files the appeal for you.