By Bob Kasarda, Times of Northwest Indiana
bob.kasarda@nwi.com
Unless a court upholds Porter County's attempt to leave the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, the county is obligated to continue paying its $3.5 million annual dues or it can no longer use the balance of the income tax revenue for property tax relief and distributions to municipalities.
This obligation would even survive the court ruling if two or more local municipalities exercise an option to join the RDA on their own, according to Amanda Stanley, communications specialist with the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.
Stanley said it is difficult to speculate whether this obligation will be satisfied by the current arrangement to pay the dues into a court-held escrow account until the legal dispute is settled.
The stand taken by the DLGF, which came in response to a question raised by The Times, irked a couple of the four county council members who voted in April to leave the RDA and followed up in September with a lawsuit.
"What's the state saying? They're just going to keep (the tax money)?" asked Council Member Dan Whitten.
He and Council member Rita Stevenson said they will not be intimidated into backing off on their fight to leave the RDA.
Stevenson, who is the only council member now seeking to leave the RDA who voted to join the group four years ago, said she feels more than ever the RDA lost sight of its original promise of funding major projects, such as extending the South Shore train to Lowell and Valparaiso.
Council member Laura Blaney, who along with Sylvia Graham supports the push to leave the RDA, said she favors eliminating the portion of the local income tax for the RDA and property tax relief.
"It's kind of a shell game," she said of the approach of collecting an income tax to give property tax relief.
Porter County Commissioner Bob Harper downplayed the DLGF's position as a "political ploy" and said it is nothing more than an opinion that can be challenged in court.
The property tax relief, which comes in the form of a homestead credit, will be applied to this year's tax bills that the county hopes to get out the door next month, Stanley said.
Blaney questioned why the state is fighting so hard to collect Porter County's dues when Gary is delinquent in its payments.
RDA Executive Director Bill Hanna said Gary is $3.5 million in arrears, but has made the first payment in a plan to catch up.