BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana
pguinane@nwitimes.com
INDIANAPOLIS | If imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, Northwest Indiana officials soon may blush a bit when looking east.
Some, instead, might get downright red in the face over plans to create a second Regional Development Authority for Elkhart, LaGrange and Steuben counties.
That's because, unlike the Lake and Porter county version hatched last year, plans for a Northeast Indiana RDA rely solely on $100 million in state money.
"Our RDA is funded by local dollars, and that's a problem, said Rep. Robert Kuzman, D-Crown Point. "That's an issue."
East Chicago, Gary, Hammond and Lake County each have committed to sending $3.5 million a year in casino money to the RDA. Porter County approved a local income tax that generates another $3.5 million for a total local contribution of $17 million a year.
The concept of a new Northeast Indiana RDA materialized last week, while House Republicans were securing votes for Major Moves, Gov. Mitch Daniels' 10-year, $10.6 billion plan to build and maintain roads and bridges.
House Democrats united against leasing the Indiana Toll Road, a $3.85 billion proposition that would bankroll much of the new construction in Major Moves.
But the united front lent leverage to a handful of Republicans who represent districts along the Toll Road.
Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Lakeville, used the newfound bargaining power to secure a promise for $100 million over 10 years for a Northeast Indiana RDA. Her local counties don't get the revenue that comes from having a local casino.
She shrugged off suggestions that it would be unfair to create a new RDA without requiring a local funding match.
"It depends on what your perspective of fair is," Walorski said.
"I voted for a bill last year to approve an RDA of which I had no benefit from," Walorski said.
"Last year, the question of fairness was: 'Why doesn't any other county in the state of Indiana get what we did for Lake County?' "
Both RDAs have been creatures of compromise.
The Northeast Indiana version is inexorably linked to the Toll Road lease. Last year, the Northwest Indiana RDA was an 11th-hour compromise that convinced Democrats to approve financing for a new Indianapolis Colts stadium.
As a chief architect of the RDA for Lake and Porter counties, Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, doesn't begrudge Walorski's effort.
"I have no problem with that at all," he said.
The absence of a local match simply means that Elkhart, LaGrange and Steuben counties will have less money to work with, Dobis said. The Northwest Indiana RDA must juggle support for regional bus service, the South Shore Line, the Gary/Chicago International Airport and the Marquette Plan to revitalize former industrial sites along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
And while Walorski sees no need, others, including Daniels, have suggested it might be best to attach a local funding requirement to the proposed Northeast Indiana RDA, too. That could happen in the coming weeks, as the Toll Road legislation gets consideration by the Senate.