Sec. 5. (a) Freeholders who desire the establishment of a fire protection district must initiate proceedings by filing a petition in the office of the county auditor of the county where the freeholder‘s land is located. The petition may also be filed by a municipality under an ordinance adopted by its legislative body in each county where the municipality is located.

     (b) The petition must be signed:

(1) by at least twenty percent (20%), with a minimum of five hundred (500), of the freeholders owning land within the proposed district; or

(2) by a majority of those freeholders owning land within the proposed district;

whichever number is less.

     (c) This subsection applies to a district that consists of a municipality located in two (2) counties. The petitions filed in each county as set forth in section 5.1 of this chapter shall be considered parts of one (1) petition. The signature requirement of subsection (b) applies to the sum of the signatures on all parts of the petition.

[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citations: subsection (a) formerly 19-1-45-6; subsection (b) formerly 19-1-45-7 part.]

As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.63. Amended by P.L.63-1991, SEC.3; P.L.36-2000, SEC.4.