By John Byrne, Post-Tribune staff writer
INDIANAPOLIS -- A tax on cars in Northwest Indiana may still have wheels.
U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky's Chief of Staff, Chuck Brimmer, met privately with key legislators in the Statehouse this week to try to revive plans for a local revenue source to help fund extension of the South Shore rail line east to Valparaiso.
Brimmer's message, according to Visclosky spokesman Justin Kitsch, was simple: "It is imperative that the local matching funds are found this session."
To delay would put Indiana at a disadvantage in the race for the matching federal transportation money to cover the rest of the cost of the extension, which could total $900 million.
Though Brimmer made his personal pitch with less than two weeks until the scheduled end of the spring legislative session, Rep. Robert Kuzman said enough days remain to hammer out an agreement to fund the project if enough lawmakers are willing.
"There's always enough time in the General Assembly," said Kuzman, D-Crown Point."We are going to look and see if we can get something done this session."
He mentioned Rep. Chet Dobis' proposal for a wheel tax as a possible source of the local revenue.
Dobis, D-Merrillville, unveiled a plan early this month to give the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority the power to levy the annual wheel tax on automobiles in Lake and Porter counties.
An annual tax of $50 on all passenger cars and $80 on all heavier trucks would raise a total of $28.2 million per year in the two counties, Dobis said at the time.
Kuzman suggested legislators will look at lower taxes than those.
Under the plan Dobis presented to the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee, the revenue raised by the tax could be used solely to fund the West Lake rail line extension south into Cedar Lake and east through Lowell to Valparaiso.
And the RDA's authority to tax would only kick in if Visclosky, D-Merrillville, succeeded in securing federal matching funds for the massive rail project.
But at the time of Dobis' presentation, significant resistance to the wheel tax existed among members of Northwest Indiana's legislative delegation.
Kitsch said it will be up to the legislators to reach some kind of accord.
"Rep. Visclosky will leave the decisions on the specifics up to the lawmakers in Indianapolis who make these decisions," Kitsch said. "The important thing is that they find the local revenue source this session."