By Jane Huh, Post-Tribune
jhuh@post-trib.com
A divisive regional issue finally comes to a vote Tuesday -- at least in Porter and St. Joseph counties.
Those counties will hold a referendum on creation of a regional transportation authority, while leaders of Lake and LaPorte counties have rejected the state-mandated referendum, citing the costs for holding a special election this year.
With limited time left before the vote, supporters and opponents of the regional transportation district are scrambling to sway voters.
Bill Hanna, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, and a representative from Stop the RTA, a local political action committee, are scheduled to speak at a forum Monday in St. Joseph County to present their views.
The RDA, a regional organization designed to promote economic development projects, supports the creation of a four-county transportation district and officially endorsed the referendum.
Stop the RTA, chaired by Porter County Commissioner Robert Harper, has been campaigning against the district and the board that would oversee it.
The ballot question asks voters whether they favor the creation of a regional transportation district with authority to impose an income tax of up to 0.25 percent to provide a regional rail system serving Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties and a regional bus public transportation system serving Lake and Porter counties.
But Lake and LaPorte counties aren't holding the special election. There is no provision in the law that addresses non-participation of counties.
That's led to confusion about the meaning and validity of the referendum that has been building since the Indiana General Assembly passed the state budget -- which contains the referendum requirement -- earlier this year.
Lake County resident Jeffrey Valles said he's "disheartened" that his county won't have the vote. But that didn't stop him from working to push for a yes vote. Valles signed on as treasurer of Citizens for Northwest Indiana, a counterpart political action committee to the Stop the RTA organization.