By Erik Potter, Post-Tribune staff writer
Two more shoes are about to drop in the world of Lake County mass transit woes.
Hammond announced several weeks ago that, because of budget constraints, it could not fund its bus system in 2009.
On Monday, representatives of East Chicago Public Transit and Northwest Indiana Community Action Corp. told the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority that they will have to cut services or close down altogether next year.
All three agencies blamed the impacts of House Bill 1001, the property tax cap bill passed by the General Assembly this spring.
East Chicago applied to the Regional Bus Authority and the Regional Development Authority for $925,000 to take the place of one year of funding normally provided by East Chicago.
Those requests will almost certainly be denied, as the RBA does not have the money to spend, and the RDA has historically not considered such operating expenses part of its mission.
"Mayor Pabey has shown a real commitment to keeping (the bus system) some how, some way," Frank Rosado, director of the East Chicago system, said. "I think the last thing we're looking at is doing away with it."
Community Action functions similar to a dial-a-ride service, covering large areas of Lake County, with much of its service concentrated in Gary. Typically, municipalities within Community Action's service area support the agency with annual funding.
Gary Olund, executive director of Community Action, said the agency has not received the kind of funding it used to, however, particularly from Hammond and Gary, which are struggling under budget shortfalls.
That has left a budget gap that NWICA is unable to make up.
"Come January 1, if we don't have the local dollars ... we will look very closely at the level of service we can provide and (if) we should provide" the service at all, Olund told the RDA.