By Patrick Guinane, Times of Northwest Indiana
patrick.guinane@nwi.com
INDIANAPOLIS | Voters might get the final say in whether to create an income tax-funded transit authority to manage bus and commuter rail service in Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties.
But on Tuesday it was a top Senate fiscal leader who added his two cents.
Senate Tax Chairman Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield, tacked on an amendment forcing the four counties to pass a series of local income taxes dedicated to reducing property taxes before they could tap a proposed 0.25 income tax to fund the new transit authority.
"Before we're going to allow the imposition of a brand new income tax, we need to provide some property tax relief," Hershman said. "Jasper County right next door to Lake County already has, and property tax payers saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 percent relief as a result."
Other legislators deemed Hershman's addition a bargaining maneuver that merely ensures the transit legislation, House Bill 1607, will be routed to a House-Senate conference committee for further negotiation. It's also a sign legislators still want Lake County to pass an income tax devoted to easing property taxes.
"I think that's what he's saying," said Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville. "He just wants to remind them that it's there."
Kenley, the author of the legislation, said he likely will offer an amendment next week to set up a referendum allowing voters in the four counties to decide whether they want to create the transit district. It would be governed by a nine-member board of elected officials who could impose a local income tax of up to 0.25 percent in each county without approval from county councils.
The taxing power, which could raise more than $50 million a year, has drawn fire from Porter County officials, though none of them registered complaints Tuesday at the Statehouse.
"It's interesting that the Porter County Council is having an emergency meeting and didn't bother to show up at the public hearing," said Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso. "They seem to want to have some kind of public show instead of being part of the decision making."
The council is meeting Wednesday night to consider ending its $3.5 million annual contribution to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, which was created in 2005 to help fund South Shore rail extensions to Lowell and Valparaiso. Supporters now say the income taxes included in the new transit legislation are needed to help cover the local half of the $1 billion rail expansion tab.
The proposed transit authority also would, starting Jan. 1, absorb the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority and municipal and on-demand bus agencies throughout the region, including those in East Chicago, Gary, Hammond and Valparaiso.
"It's an amazing amount of work to do in six or seven months," said RBA director Tim Brown.