By Bryan Corbin, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS With a midnight deadline looming, state lawmakers on a party-line vote passed a $26 billion state budget that funds Interstate 69 construction and would apply $550 million in property tax relief.
During the Indiana House debate on the budget bill late Sunday night, state Rep. Suzanne Crouch said she was "very conflicted" about the proposal.
"I really want to vote for it; it's good for my district, it has funding for I-69," Crouch said. But it didn't go far enough in terms of property-tax relief, she said, and she asked that the budget bill be sent back to a conference committee for more negotiations. She ultimately voted no on the bill.
The budget legislation, House Bill 1001, passed on party lines, 51-49, with Democrats supporting it andRepublicans opposed. Negotiations were tense all evening, with House Republicans meeting behind closed doors for an extended period until debate began well after 9 p.m.
One of the biggest disputes was over the level of property tax relief and whether it should be factored into tax bills at the outset or sent to taxpayers in rebate checks after their fall tax payments.
Republicans control the Senate 33-17 and the budget was expected to clear easily there.
For Southwestern Indiana legislators, one of the biggest issues was making sure Major Moves funding for Interstate 69 construction was included in the budget.
The House Democratic budget that passed in February did not include such funding. The Senate Republican budget added it back.
Conference committee negotiations in recent days hinged on whether the budget would include a lump sum in Major Moves funds, or a designated list of projects for the Indiana Department of Transportation to build.
The result is somewhat of a hybrid, in that the budget includes $1.03 billion in Major Moves construction funding. It requires INDOT to make quarterly reports to legislators and the governor on the progress made toward completing the highway projects on the state transportation department's priority list.
One of those is $119 million for the Evansville-to-Crane section of Interstate 69. In case of cost overruns, the budget also allows the transportation department to go back and seek additional funding during the two-year period, up to $50 million.
"It does mean someone is looking at the projects, at least making sure they are adhering to what they committed the state to, and not deviating too much," said state Rep. Dennis Avery, D-Evansville.
At least three House Democrats Avery, Rep. Trent Van Haaften and Rep. Dave Crooks have said they told their caucus' leaders that they could not vote for the final budget compromise if it did not contain funding for I-69.
They "raised a ton of hell and made the speaker (Patrick Bauer) realize how important this was to our area," said Crooks, D-Washington.
"The speaker knew it, but sometimes you have to remind them that in this case, we cannot have any more delay.
"I threatened at that point I'd pull back my budget vote if we didn't solve this, and I was going to stick to that."
Crooks ultimately planned to vote for the budget bill once the I-69 money was included. Crooks was concerned that two of the nine school corporations that are in his House district, Southeast Dubois and Barr-Reeve, see negligible increases in funding under the school funding formula.
"There's a little bit of growth for those corporations, but it's very little.
Calling the budget "a very good start," Avery voted for the budget bill. Among other things, Avery cited the $29.9 million in bonding authority for the new college of business at the University of Southern Indiana, which would see a 7.7 percent funding increase the first year and 7.2 percent the second year.
Also voting yes were representatives Kreg Battles, Phil Hoy, Russ Stilwell and Van Haaften.
In the state Senate, the budget bill passed 41 to 9.
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said she voted for the budget bill because her concerns about USI funding, school remediation and the CHOICE program to keep the elderly out of nursing homes have been addressed.
State Sen. Bob Deig, D-Mount Vernon, voted no on the final budget, because two school corporations in his Senate district, Mount Vernon and New Harmony, face a net reduction in funding under the school formula.
"I have to vote no," Deig said. "We really have to take care of public education."