The Porter County Commissioners are divided on whether the county should remain a member of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.

On the eve of the meeting at which the RDA will be debated, Porter County Commissioners Robert Harper, John Evans, and Carole Knoblock weighed in at their meeting Tuesday.

Harper said in light of pending tax proposals in the Indiana General Assembly that could result in higher county income taxes, he feels that the council has “no choice” but to pull out of the RDA.

Evans called for Porter County to stay in the RDA and said the recent push to get out is being prompted only by proposals pending in the Legislature that should be viewed separately from the merits of the RDA.

Knoblock reiterated that she never was in support of Porter County joining the RDA and that she remains opposed to it.

The debate will continue today at a special meeting of the Porter County Council at 5 p.m. The meeting was requested by council member Dan Whitten, D-at large, to respond to the recent proposal in a pending bill, H.B. 1607, which would create a new transit authority with the power to impose a 0.25 percent income tax in Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties.

The bill has since been amended to include provisions for putting the proposal for a regional transit district to the voters in a referendum as well as provisions for additional county income taxes.

Porter County imposed its own 0.25 percent county income tax in order to join the RDA in 2005. Of the revenue generated from that tax, $3.5 million annually goes to the RDA, while the rest goes toward county homestead credits that cut homeowner tax bills.

In a prepared statement, Harper ripped the push for more county income taxes. He said that when the RDA was first established, its backers made it sound as if the RDA would fund the current and extended South Shore commuter service, regional buses, the Gary Airport expansion and the Marquette Plan. The message was clear, he said, that another tax wouldn’t be needed in the area.

But with the prospect of the county income tax rising to 0.75 percent with the new transit agency, Harper said: “If the tax has grown that fast in the past seven years, where will it be 20 years from now?”

Harper also noted that some people are concerned that the county will end up paying dearly in attorney fees to defend its decision to withdraw from the RDA. “To me, that is a ridiculous argument,” he said, citing the RDA’s efforts early last year to use $130,000 in tax funds to pay for a promotional campaign on behalf of the South Shore extension.

Harper also raised doubts that the South Shore extension to Valparaiso will ever happen, noting a study that found that the population levels would not justify federal funding for the project.

He also ripped the idea that people who oppose the South Shore extension are against public transportation. He said he personally supports mass transit. “You can be in favor of public transportation, but not be in favor of throwing money away,” he said.

Taking a completely different view was Evans, who said the RDA membership should be dealt with separately from the pending legislative proposals.

Evans said he’s not in favor of new county taxes, but that he does support the RDA. “I think the RDA is valuable,” he said.

He said H.B. 1607 is nothing concrete, but only a proposal in the Legislature that can be further amended and subject to more compromise. He criticized the fact that no one from Porter County showed up at a hearing Tuesday to testify against the bill, when the supporters from other neighboring counties did.

Evans said he’s not a supporter of regional bus services, saying that buses are money losers but possibly a necessary evil in Lake County. But another top priority item for the RDA Ð the expansion of the Gary airport Ð will be a major benefit for all of Northwest Indiana. He said for Porter County to leave the RDA now would jeopardize the airport expansion, since the RDA is a major player in the airport.

“There will be thousands of jobs created when that airport takes off,” he said.

Speaking from the audience, Northwest Indiana Forum President Vince Galbiati urged Porter County to stay in the RDA.

He said that all the points raised by Harper are arguable, and that the RDA has brought many benefits to Porter County, such as funding for the new Portage lakefront park, new South Shore train cars, and funding for the Valparaiso buses.

He also said that the prospect of increased taxes will always be an issue for county officials, regardless of the RDA or the new transit district. Further, he said that Porter County’s population increase is not keeping pace with its job creation, meaning that the county is becoming more of a commuter-oriented county. It needs the structure of the RDA to sustain and expand its transit options. “It’s an absolutely worthwhile structure,” Galbiati said.

Posted 4/8/2009