By VICKI URBANIK

Porter County Treasurer Jim Murphy and Porter County Auditor James Kopp said they will refuse to carry out the Porter County Council's directive last week to withhold payment to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development  Authority.

In a joint press release issued late this morning, Murphy and Kopp said they take "strong exception" to the council's 4-3 vote to withdraw from the RDA, calling the council's instructions requiring the withholding of the county's payment to the RDA "misdirected and illegal."

"It is our intention to fulfill our non-discretionary statutory obligation and proceed with payment of the Porter County contribution to the RDA," the Murphy-Kopp statement reads. "The misdirected and illegal action of the Porter County Council can not and will not obligate us to violate the law.

We took an oath to uphold the laws of the State of Indiana and we intend to do so."

Porter County Council member Dan Whitten, D-at large, said the legalities of whether the county can withdraw from the RDA will need judicial review and that neither Murphy nor Kopp are judges who can decide the issues.

"They also took an oath of office -- to get the tax bills out on time," Whitten said of the auditor and treasurer. "They need to spend less time figuring out what we're doing and more time doing their jobs."

Kopp and Murphy both said that they issued their joint statement based on their own reading of the state law that created the RDA, and that neither has received legal advice or are being represented by an attorney.

Murphy said he forwarded the RDA claim to Kopp's office this morning, and that it was his understanding Kopp planned to mail it today. Kopp said the next payment is due April 30. The county's membership to the RDA comes from a 0.25 percent county income tax enacted in 2005.

The RDA bill was for $1.75 million, or half of the annual dues, but Porter County pays quarterly. Kopp said the county doesn't have the income tax funds available to make the half-year payment, but that it has the funds to make the quarterly payment of $875,000.

The council's 4-3 vote last week to withdraw from the RDA included a directive to Kopp to withhold making the county's payments to the RDA.

However, the Murphy-Kopp press release states that by law, the county treasurer -- not the county auditor -- is the one to convey the first $3.5 million from the county's income tax to the RDA.

The two said in their statement that the council's decision violates state law that requires the treasurer to convey the RDA dues. "The legislature made this obligation of the County Treasurer mandatory," their statement reads.

Kopp said that he as auditor writes the checks to the RDA, but that both he and Murphy sign them.

The statement also says that the 2009 distribution to the RDA comes from monies collected from taxpayers in 2008. "Diversion of these funds from their intended and legal purpose violates our clearly defined and statutorily mandated obligation to those taxpayers," they said.

Kopp said he believes that because the income tax funds have already been collected, they must be spent for the purpose stated in the law. "I don't think we have any right not to do that," he said.

Kopp also said that the council's decision to withdraw from the RDA might affect the future tax collections, but not tax money already collected.

Murphy agreed, saying that if the county wants to stop him from sending a payment, it would need to change the state law. "We find ourselves in a stand-off between Indiana code and the county council," he said.

Murphy added that legalities aside, he disagrees with the council's decision in general to withdraw from the RDA.

Murphy, a Republican, and Kopp, a Democrat, also noted in their statement that the 0.25 percent income tax, in addition to providing the $3.5 million for the RDA, provides property tax relief for homeowners.

Whitten, an attorney, said the legal issue that needs to be determined is whether the county is entitled to pull out of the RDA and, if so, what its obligations are. He said the legal issue of payment to the RDA might not be a question of when the tax funds were collected, but when the payments are due, noting that the claim that Kopp and Murphy plan to make represent current-year dues.