INDIANAPOLIS -- Washington Township board members want to vote themselves a 60 percent pay raise, despite a drastic cut in their duties.

Board members voted to decrease their salaries after the township's fire department merged with the Indianapolis Fire Department last year, a move that meant they no longer needed to oversee the department.

But at a meeting Thursday night, board members plan to vote to once again boost their salaries, from $2,250 to $3,600 a year.

6News' Norman Cox tried to contact several of the board members who support the raise on Wednesday. Board president Ray Baker and member Joe Simpson both hung up on Cox when asked about the raise, while the office of township trustee Frank Short was locked up in the middle of the day with no one answering phones, Cox reported.

Board member Jack Werner said he opposes the pay hike and thinks the current salary is fine, given the board's reduced responsibility since the fire merger. He said he believes a raise would only fan the fire at the Statehouse to eliminate townships completely.

"I think people are going to see this egregious increase as just another reason to get rid of what they think is a system that has a lot of patronage in it, that has a lot of insider-ism in it," he said.

Washington Township resident Penny Bigelow is one of a group of taxpayers collecting signatures on petitions opposing the pay raise.

"I do appreciate everything that the township board members do to serve. However, they don't have the fire department anymore. They have 80 percent less work," she said.

Taxpayers won't be allowed to address the board at Thursday's meeting. Members will vote on the township budget, which includes the pay raise, at 6:15 p.m. at the township office at 1595 E. 86th St.