Gary airport tax idea stir county line tempers

INDIANAPOLIS | Despite landing $20 million in state funds last week, Gary Mayor Scott King still wants all of Lake and Porter counties to pay a property tax dedicated to running Gary/Chicago International Airport.

Gary residents currently fund the airport, but this year King led a failed effort to extend the tax base. Although short-lived, the move drew the wrath of Porter County officials.

King promises to revisit the issue when the General Assembly reconvenes next year. He argues that expanding the tax is only fair after last year's decision to give Lake and Porter counties each a spot on the board overseeing the airport.

"You wanted a seat at the table, but the property tax base for the airport continues to only be Gary -- how could that possibly be fair?" King said. "Are you going to let me go come and sit on the Porter County Council? I mean, come on. It's ridiculous."

With the state's $20 million earmarked for improvements, including a major runway expansion, King said the airport soon will become a regional force benefiting both counties.

But Porter County Commissioner Bob Harper simply sees an attempt to shift dollars across the county line.

"We'll fight it every way possible. I think it's ridiculous," said Harper, the Valparaiso Democrat who serves as president of the commissioners. "I think more and more things are being proposed to have Porter County people pay for Lake County projects."

Created last year, the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority combines $14 million in Lake County casino funds with $3.5 million generated from Porter County's local income tax.

The RDA is supposed to foster a regional approach. But some say King hurt that spirit by independently pushing the airport tax in Indianapolis. The legislation went nowhere, and an attempt to attach it to another bill failed as well.

Rep. Duane Cheney, D-Portage, predicts King will have no better luck next year.

"I think he can probably get one vote in the (100-member) House, maybe two," Cheney said. "Porter County raised its income tax to participate in the RDA, I couldn't justify to my constituents or to anyone else us contributing more than that."

Sen. Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange, helped the Gary airport secure the $20 million in state support this year as part of the governor's $3.8 billion plan to privatize the Indiana Toll Road.

"I don't live there, but I do recognized the economic value (of the airport) to the region," he said. Still, Meeks said that doesn't mean King will have similar luck with an airport tax.

"Everybody has to be on the same page on that issue," he said. "You try to force that down their throats, and they'll just go ballistic."

That's about what happened earlier this year.

"You thought the sky was coming down, the moon was out at noon or something," said Airport Director Paul Karas. "Maybe it should have been articulated to certain people before it hit the press like that."

Karas said King isn't asking for much. Property owners in Gary currently pay an airport tax equal to $67 on a $100,000 home. Spread across all of Lake and Porter counties, the tax would drop to roughly $5 per $100,000 of assessed value.

Currently, the tax generates about $1.5 million, forcing the city of Gary to pick up the airport's $1 million annual tab for police and fire protection, Karas said.

Spreading the much lower tax across both counties would generate about $3.1 million a year.

King sees that as a must, now that the counties each have a seat on the airport board.

"Anyone with a fourth-grade civics education could understand that," he said.

Harper, meanwhile, said Porter County won't back down.

"I see a trend and it really worries me," he said. "I want to assure everyone that we'll fight this every way we can."