INDIANAPOLIS — For the next eight months, until Election Day, Hoosiers should expect Gov. Mike Pence to regularly declare the road funding package approved Thursday night by the General Assembly is "a win for Indiana."
"It's going to make a tremendous investment in our infrastructure and in the infrastructure of our prosperity in this state," Pence said.
In fact, the success of the roads plan largely will depend on where Hoosiers live, and the appetite of their local leaders to boost vehicle taxes.
Prior to adjourning for the year, the Republican-controlled Legislature came around to Pence's $1 billion roads spending target, without raising any state taxes.
While the Republican governor originally wanted to spend that much to fix just state highways, lawmakers got him to agree that most of the money should be spent by counties and cities for local road and bridge improvements.
The state only is getting $228 million in new money, taken from Indiana's $2 billion budget reserve, and advance permission to spend another $100 million set aside in last year's budget in a contingency fund for highway expansion projects.
Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of the money being provided to local governments, or $430 million, is county income tax revenue currently held in reserve by the state as a hedge against a drop in collections during an economic downturn.
Most Region counties will get a decent tax refund — Lake, $27.6 million; Porter, $3.8 million; LaPorte, $4.3 million; and Jasper, $9.2 million — but a large share of the 88 remaining counties, including Newton at $590,000, are getting about $1 million or less.
To access the other $254 million in matching local road funds provided by House Enrolled Act 1001, Indiana's many cash-strapped counties and municipalities will have to come up with half the cost of their projects.
That likely means the Region will get none of the money, unless county officials agree to adopt a vehicle excise tax or a wheel tax.
The legislation also permits municipalities with more than 10,000 residents to now impose those taxes.
Pence previously has refused to sign proposals that authorize local tax hikes, instead allowing them to become law without his signature.
He said Friday that if tax hikes were the only way localities could access matching funds he might not sign the measure, but because they also can use their tax refunds or reallocate existing revenues, he expects to enact the legislation.
"This is truly a long-term solution for infrastructure for our local communities," Pence said. "It could be described as a historic investment in local roads and bridges, and I'm very very proud of that."