BY SUSAN BROWN, Times of Northwest Indiana
sbrown@nwitimes.com
HAMMOND | Bus service may be nearing the end of the line in Hammond.
Written out of next year's city budget and with the prospect of only $400,000 in gaming funds to tide it over until July 1, any rescue must be carried out by the state. Prospects currently appear dim.
State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, in July had offered a glimmer of hope, saying the issue appeared to fit within mass transit discussions expected to take place during summer study sessions.
But the joint study session between the Northwest Indiana Transportation Study Commission, chaired by state Sen. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake, and the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee, chaired by Kenley, never happened.
"It doesn't appear we're making any progress," Kenley said Friday of the statewide solution he had hoped for. "No one's discussing it."
Landske said two scheduled commission meetings were canceled over time conflicts and also because only broad, regional issues were on the table. Landske said she was unaware of Hammond's bus service being in jeopardy.
"They won't have individual bus service then," she said. "It will be up to the (Regional Bus Authority) to come up with a funding plan to present to the General Assembly."
Kenley said such a plan might be considered during the upcoming legislative session "if it was strong enough to raise the money" required.
The central question remains "Who's going to pay for what?" he said. "The state doesn't have any additional resources any more than the local governments in light of the current economic situation."
What also has been lacking is a coherent study of the cost of an overall subsidy, Kenley added.
RBA President Dennis Rittenmeyer held out little hope the Legislature will entertain a bailout of the troubled bus systems in the Lake County urban corridor. "They love to tell us we have not yet used the tools given us," Rittenmeyer said.
Those include the county option income tax and the food and beverage tax. Neither is on the horizon.
Lake County Commissioner Fran DuPey, D-Hammond, has stood firm in her opposition to the county income tax, opting instead to urge local governments to cut the fat in their budgets. Also, even with a county income tax, DuPey said there are no guarantees it would be used to assist bus service.
DuPey also pointed to the millions in riverboat money received by Hammond. "It doesn't appear to me that too many councilmen or other elected officials care about bus service," she said.
Lake County Councilman Ernie Dillon, D-Hammond, said it does not appear the County Council is interested in implementing an income tax, nor has the question of adopting a food and beverage tax come up in the two years he's been on the council. Dillon, who supports a countywide bus system, said the only immediate solution has to come from the state unless local officials can find dollars to divert from already established tax funds.
Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said Friday the intent of the city's $400,000 bailout was to provide the RBA and the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority the time to find a way to properly fund a regional system. By extending bus service until June 30, the end of the state's fiscal year, McDermott said the hope was it would allow time for the Legislature to act.
Should the legislative fix not happen, McDermott said he is prepared to let the bus service end. "If the General Assembly doesn't think regional bus service is worthy of debate, I don't know what to say," he said.
McDermott said the city is facing a massive budget deficit at the mandate of the state. "I wasn't given an option when (the Legislature) cut millions out of our budget," McDermott said of the impact on the bus service.