Donovan Estridge, LaPorte Herald-Argus
destridge@heraldargus.com
LA PORTE -- After criticism from some members of the public, La Porte County Intermodal Task Force Chairman Dave Christian announced changes in the task force's budget proposal.
At the behest of the La Porte County Council and Commission, Christian announced Tuesday that the original budget proposal will be cut in half.
Instead of requesting nearly $100,000 of tax-subsidized dollars, Christian said Tuesday that the request will be reduced to $47,000.
He made the announcement at a La Porte County Redevelopment Commission meeting.
"We pared down some things," Christian told The La Porte County Herald-Argus Tuesday evening. "It's still a work in progress. There will continue to be fine-tuning until it is proposed to the commissioners."
Despite the overhaul, some members of the La Porte County Council still think the budget is excessive.
"It's not enough (of a cut)," La Porte County Councilman Rich Mrozinski told The Herald-Argus this morning. "I would like to see what they plan on spending. As you know, the county is in bad shape financially."
Some of the questions Mrozinski had early on were the dollar amounts requested for such items as trips to Illinois and guest speakers.
Initially, Christian and the task force requested $5,000 for a trip to Elwood, Ill., to tour the CenterPoint intermodal facility. But after that request riled Mrozinski to the point of questioning what type of limousine would be used for the trip, Christian asked for significantly less money.
Now the task force will only ask for $2,000 for a trip or trips to Illinois.
"That equates into either one bus for two trips or two buses and only one trip," Christian said.
Christian also said the task force will not accept an offer from an anti-intermodal group to pay for the Elwood trip. Last week, the group, Stop Intermodals/Save Our County (SISOC) offered to pick up the tab.
"I have said all along this is an independent group," Christian said. "We were appointed by the commissioners and should be funded the same. It would be no different than letting developers fund the trip."
Although Christian declined the offer, he did invite two SISOC members to accompany the task force on the November trip.
"They will be our guests," Christian said. "But this is still a task force trip."
In addition to a major overhaul on the task force's trip proposal, the new budget request eliminates the possibility of the task force hiring speakers to present information to it.
The biggest change in the updated proposal is the amount of funds requested for technical experts. Early on, Christian speculated the need for $80,000 for studies that might go beyond the scope of the task force. While the request was never meant to be used if not needed, Christian asked for a line item for a "what if" scenario.
But after drawing the ire of commissioners and council members, Christian proposed only requesting $43,000 for the use of Kansas City-based TranSystems Consultants. TranSystems was hired by Michigan City in 2005 for an intermodal facility proposal. The company has two offices in Chicago.
"It's all based on the proposal we got two years ago," Christian said. "And that would only be used on an as-needed basis. Right now we don't have a proposal so we wouldn't need them."
Although the improvised budget request was unveiled publicly for the first time Tuesday, Christian stressed that more changes could take place. Christian is scheduled to submit his proposal to the commission in mid-November.
"Believe me, I am very cognizant about protecting taxpayers," Christian said.