How much of the $3.85 billion in toll road lease money will come to Elkhart County remains a question for local officials.
The Indiana Senate's appropriations committee Thursday adopted several amendments that affect how much lease money Elkhart County will receive for transportation projects.
Paying for lease expenses ($25 million) and paying off the toll road bonds ($225 million) will be included in the 34 percent of toll road proceeds earmarked for the seven toll road counties.
Under an earlier draft of the bill, those payments were taken off the whole lease amount and 34 percent would have been calculated based on the remaining amount.
Local officials are downplaying the significance of the changes.
"This is a process," said Elkhart County Council President John Letherman. "The actual final result won't be known until the last day of the session," which is March 14.
House amendments: gone but not forgotten
The bill also eliminated Rep. Jackie Walorski's amendment creating a regional development authority for LaGrange, Steuben and Elkhart counties and Rep. Tim Neese's amendment to freeze tolls for 10 years for toll road area residents.
The legislators were disappointed.
"I'm hopeful an increased wisdom would allow the state Senate to better appreciate and understand that without a toll road, (the bill) would be non-existent," Neese said Friday.
Neese, R-Elkhart, defended his now-deleted amendment to freeze tolls for residents of the toll road counties for 10 years. Some view his amendment as unconstitutional.
Asked whether his bid for re-election this year had anything to do with his amendment to the bill, Neese said, "That will be up to the voters."
"I'm trying to do what's in the best interests of (the district)," Neese said.
Walorski, R-Lakeville, said she wants to see the return of her amendment, requiring a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to change the way money from the toll road lease is spent. The bill still can be amended in the conference committee after March 2.
Deadline
The full Senate must vote on the bill before March 2. A conference committee then will have to iron out differences in the versions of the bill adopted by the House and the Senate. The last day of the session is March 14.
"An ongoing discussion"
Local officials said they will continue lobbying for the best outcome in Indianapolis.
It's "an ongoing discussion" whether northern toll road counties get their fair share, said Sen. Marv Riegsecker, R-Goshen.
"There's some room for negotiation on that," he said.
Letherman said he expects local legislators to "stick to our agreements."
"We don't have any leverage other than the governor's promise," Letherman said. "We're sort of trusting in him."
Speaking in Indianapolis, Gov. Mitch Daniels called the U.S. 31 upgrade from South Bend to Indianapolis and an Interstate 69 extension south off Indianapolis as the "core of the bill" he would not negotiate because, he said, those projects would help create jobs. Funding for those projects would come from the toll road lease proceeds.
"I want to be as flexible as I can about the secondary items," he told Statehouse reporters Thursday.