Daniels on Porter County RDA vote: 'It's their call'

By Patrick Guinane, Times of Northwest Indiana
patrick.guinane@nwi.com

INDIANAPOLIS | The state will not stand in the way of Porter County's exit from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Friday.

The Republican governor promoted and signed into law 2005 legislation that allowed Lake and Porter counties to create a co-op designed to finance major investments in Gary/Chicago International Airport, Lake Michigan shoreline redevelopment, regional bus service and commuter rail expansion. The Porter County Council voted 4-3 Wednesday night to leave the RDA and discontinue its $3.5 million annual dues.

"It's their call," Daniels told reporters during a Statehouse news conference. "This has been a matter of local choice all along. We created unprecedented resources in the RDA, followed that up with $40 million split between Porter and Lake County. Free cash out of the Toll Road transaction."

"But from the very beginning we said what is done with those funds is up to the people of Northwest Indiana," Daniels continued. "One county (LaPorte) opted not to take part from the beginning. I've simply never thought it was the place of anyone in Indianapolis -- me or anyone else in state government -- to tell Northwest Indiana or anybody else how to do their business."

In 2006, Daniels committed $120 million in Indiana Toll Road lease proceeds to the RDA over 10 years. The governor said he foresees no state involvement in determining whether state law allows an RDA member to withdraw.

"I'm not going to try to tell them what to do," Daniels said. "The decision as to who takes part and how (the state money) should be used, we've said with absolute consistency is a matter for the people of the northwest to decide."

The 2005 law that created the RDA stipulates the process for joining the co-op, but it is silent as to the procedure for exiting. Daniels said he will leave it to Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller -- and potentially the courts -- to determine if Porter County's vote to withdraw is legally enforceable.

East Chicago, Gary, Hammond and Lake County each pay $3.5 million in annual RDA dues through taxes on the county's four lakefront casinos.

Porter County imposed a 0.25 percent county income tax to cover its $3.5 million RDA contribution and bankroll what now amounts to $8 million in homeowner property tax relief. The Porter County Council has yet to decide whether to alter or repeal the tax.