INDIANAPOLIS - Efforts from the Statehouse for an economic development bill for Gary and Lake County moved forward Tuesday with a unanimous vote in the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, authored the bill.
A new amendment, added by Charbonneau, would allow Lake County to impose a 1 percent county income tax, where a quarter of the percent would go to economic development, and three quarters to a county option income tax.
“This would reverse the levy freeze,” he said, “but the county would have to pass it. And it’s frozen at that one percent, they can’t come back later on and increase it. If they wanted to they would have to come back to the legislature.”
Charbonneau said that he hopes the .25 percent for economic development will help fund a commuter rail expansion within the county.
The bill would provide for a feasibility study for expanding the Port of Indiana to Gary, fund a study to open a trauma and medical education center in Northwest Indiana and allow the city to access $3 million in tax revenue.
A requirement for members of the board of directors for the Gary/Chicago Airport to have experience in either aviation, business or economic development is also in the bill. The governor can veto an appointment if he or she doesn’t meet the requirements, but four members must be appointed by the mayor of Gary, one by Lake County, one by Porter County and one by the governor.
The bill originally allowed one Gary casino to move inland and reorganized the airport board members to include representatives of many different communities in Lake and Porter counties, but both measures were removed.
The next step would be a vote on the floor of the Senate.