Ellettsville and Richland Township merger

What a vote means

A yes vote

The township government ends and the town takes over its duties. The plan projects +6.9% on rural bills (+$173 for a $300,000 home) and little or no change for capped town homes.

A no vote

The reorganization ends. Ellettsville and Richland Township stay separate governments with their current officers and taxes.

On the ballot

The question as it is printed, word for word.

Richland Township of Monroe County, Indiana and the Town of Ellettsville of Monroe County, Indiana have each adopted a Plan of Reorganization that provides for the consolidation of Richland Township into the Town of Ellettsville as a single governmental unit that will be governed and administered as a town with a seven (7) member elected Town Council. Shall Richland Township and the Town of Ellettsville reorganize as a single political subdivision?

In full

Voters decide whether Richland Township will be dissolved and merged into the Town of Ellettsville, creating one government run as a town with a seven-member council, starting Jan. 1, 2027. Officials say the merger would protect fire and other services as state tax changes (SEA 1) cut township income-tax revenue. The plan creates a lower-taxed Rural District outside the current town. Rural property taxes are projected to rise about 6.9%. The question must win a majority both inside and outside the town.

What is being asked for

Most it could charge

No rate is on the ballot. The plan's fiscal analysis projects these town or township property tax rates for 2027, versus 2026 ^[2]: Town District (current town): $0.7023, up from $0.6160; Rural District (rest of the township): $0.2780, up from $0.1644. County, library and solid-waste district rates are outside the new town's control ^[6].

Most it could raise a year

Projected 2027 property tax levy of the reorganized town: $6,121,981. The 2026 levies were $3,354,530 for the town and $1,282,239 for the township ^[2]

What it replaces

The reorganization is permanent if approved. The Richland Township trustee and three-member board are abolished, and the township is folded into the Town of Ellettsville, which keeps town powers and adds township powers. The current five-member town council grows to seven. Effective Jan. 1, 2027 ^[2][1]

On a median home

Not required on a reorganization ballot. The plan uses a $300,000 home as its example ^[2][4] — Projections from the plan's fiscal analysis by Baker Tilly, as adopted by the town and township ^[2][8]: A $300,000 home in Richland Township outside the town: +$173 a year; The same home inside Ellettsville: no change from the reorganization, because it is already at the tax caps; Total bills: +6.9% in the township outside the town, +4.1% in the Richland part of Ellettsville and +3.4% in the Bean Blossom part. IPM reported 3.5% for the Bean Blossom part. Baker Tilly noted that tax-cap credits mean not every bill rises by the full rate increase.

If it passes

• From Jan. 1, 2027, Richland Township ceases to exist. Its trustee and board offices end, and its assets, liabilities and duties pass to the town ^[2]: Township assistance moves to a new town Department of Public Assistance; Cemeteries, noxious weeds and fence disputes also move to the town.
• Governance ^[2][7]: Seven-member town council: the five current members plus two at-large seats; The at-large seats go to the two township board members with the most votes in 2026, for terms through 2030; The council will have five district seats (replacing wards) and two at-large seats; Districts 1-3 and the clerk-treasurer are elected in 2027; Districts 4-5 and the at-large seats in 2030; A five-member advisory board of rural residents, appointed by the town manager, serves for two years.
• Two service districts: the Town District (current town limits as of Dec. 31, 2026) and the Rural District. Rural property can be moved into the Town District only by ordinance after notice and a hearing, for example when utilities arrive or on owners' petition ^[2]
• State law bars DLGF from reducing the reorganized town's maximum levies because of the reorganization unless the council agrees ^[2]

If it fails

• 'The reorganization is terminated.' The town and township continue as separate governments with their current officers and taxes ^[4][11]
• No source says when or whether the two bodies would try again or what the township would do when its certified-share income tax ends in 2028 (see gaps) ^[5]

How it got on the ballot

• Nov. 10, 2025: the Richland Township Board adopted a resolution proposing reorganization with the town. Nov. 24, 2025: the Ellettsville Town Council adopted a matching resolution (Resolution 39-2025) ^[2]
• Motivation stated by officials: SEA 1 (2025) ends townships' 'certified share' of local income tax from 2028; Richland Township was slated to receive $470,163 of it in 2025. Officials also pointed to state-level talk of eliminating township government ^[5]
• The plan's own reasons ^[2]: protecting township fire services from county takeover; a deterrent to annexation by other municipalities; a broader tax base and coordinated planning.
• A seven-member Reorganization Committee did the planning: three town appointees, three township appointees, and the Richland-Bean Blossom schools superintendent as a joint appointee. Citizen subcommittees reported on Feb. 26, 2026, and the committee approved a draft plan on Apr. 8, 2026 ^[2][7][3]
• May 27, 2026: both bodies preliminarily approved Baker Tilly's fiscal impact analysis, which was sent to DLGF on May 29. A joint public hearing followed on June 10 ^[2][8]
• June 22, 2026: the town council (Resolution 11-2026) and the township board each adopted the final plan. Vote counts are not shown in the packet copy ^[2][9][10]
• July 10, 2026: the Monroe County Election Board unanimously approved the question. Aug. 4, 2026: DLGF found the description 'accurate and is not biased'. DLGF's review covers only the ballot language ^[1]

The district's own numbers

• Budgets, per the plan's table ^[2]: 2026 operating budgets of the town and township combined: $8,433,232; Projected for the reorganized town: $11,326,182 ($3,260,337 added, $367,387 cut); Main additions: fire +$1,141,554, police +$814,622, streets +$638,256, planning and zoning +$260,000, township assistance +$217,557; The township administration budget ($347,788) is eliminated.
• Debt ^[2]: The town's outstanding principal is $1,595,000 in lease rental bonds (2016 town hall, maturing 2033) and $1,385,000 in general obligation bonds (2023 maintenance facility, maturing 2036); These stay with taxpayers of the current town only; The township has no debt.
• Which property pays which tax ^[2][7]: Police, cumulative fire building, cumulative capital and existing town debt taxes apply only in the Town District; Fire, parks, administration and township assistance taxes apply across the whole reorganized town. The Ellettsville part in Bean Blossom Township keeps paying Bean Blossom's township assistance instead.
• Police: the Ellettsville Police Department has 14 full-time sworn officers. The plan recommends 13 new positions phased in over 5-7 years, starting with 3 officers. It says the reorganized town will be responsible for police response throughout the Rural District ^[2]
• Fire: calls rose from 1,195 in 2020 to 2,416 in 2025, and there were 546 overlapping calls in 2025. The department has 17 full-time and 21 part-time staff, and the 2027 budget adds three firefighters ^[2]

What came before

• Ellettsville was founded in 1837 and incorporated in 1866. It covers about 7.33 square miles and had 6,698 residents in 2024 (ACS). Richland Township was established in 1829 and covers about 35.4 square miles, with 15,190 residents including the town ^[2]
• The Ellettsville Fire Department has protected Richland Township as well as the town since 1947. The township and town each pay about half of its roughly $3.4 million budget ^[2]
• Earlier Indiana reorganization votes on DLGF's list ^[12][5]: Middletown and Fall Creek Township, 2020: no result posted; Sheridan and Adams Township, 2024: approved. The B Square reports 73% yes.
• Parts of Richland Township are already inside the City of Bloomington. The plan notes that the reorganized town could not levy township assistance there and may use an interlocal agreement to serve those residents ^[2][6]

What each side says

Other people's words and claims, not ours, each with the page it came from. Where we found no organised campaign on a side, the page says so rather than inventing one.

Questions worth asking

• How would police service in the Rural District be paid for, given that the police tax applies only in the Town District?
• What would the town do to keep township assistance for Richland residents living inside Bloomington?
• What triggers would move a rural property into the higher-taxed Town District?
• If the merger fails, how would the township replace the income-tax revenue SEA 1 ends in 2028?
• Do voters in the Bloomington part of Richland Township vote in the outside-the-town tally?

What we could not find

• The June 22 packet contains the plan as presented; both bodies adopted it 'as modified'. Any final modifications were not identified.
• The fiscal impact analysis itself (Exhibit D) and any DLGF comments on it were not read separately. Figures come from the plan's summary tables.
• Vote counts for the June 22 adoptions were not found.
• Whether voters who live in the City of Bloomington's part of Richland Township vote on the question is our reading of IC 36-1.5-4-28 (precincts in the reorganizing units). It was not confirmed with the county.
• Plan text gives 3.4% and IPM gives 3.5% for the Bean Blossom part of Ellettsville.
• No statement was found on what happens to the township if the vote fails.

Sources