By VICKI URBANIK

Barring a court order, a referendum question asking voters if they would support a new tax for the South Shore extension will not be on the November ballot.

The Porter County Election Board split 2-1 Tuesday to deny a request from the Porter County Commissioners for a non-binding referendum in November.

Election Board attorney Clay Patton said his review of Indiana statutes dealing with referendums and local control shows that Indiana does not allow ballot questions, except in certain instances, such as for new school construction projects or when specifically mandated by the Indiana Legislature.

As a result, Patton said his legal opinion is that the South Shore referendum is “not permitted to be on the ballot.”

Election Board members Pam Fish, the Democrat county clerk, and Patrick Lyp, the Republican board member and an attorney, both voted against the referendum, while J.J. Stankiewicz, a Democrat board member and an attorney, voted in support.

Fish said she consulted with state election officials from both parties who told her that if Porter County were to proceed with the referendum, the state could force it to re-print the ballots. She also said that the validity of the entire election could be questioned, due to the lack of legal precedent.

“If feel I need to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars,” Fish said, as she explained why she cannot support the referendum if it could result in a costly reprinting of the ballots.

Lyp said he takes requests from the county commissioners very seriously, but that he believes there is a “clear legal prohibition” against the referendum. He said he would be concerned that any candidate would have a basis for challenging the election results if the county were to put the question on the ballot.

And even if the county clearly had the right to order a referendum, Lyp said he would be concerned about the precedent and how the Election Board would deal with similar requests in the future.

However, Lyp suggested that the commissioners could try to seek a court order mandating the Election Board to reverse itself.

Stankiewicz differed with the others by saying that state statutes might not specifically allow local referendums, but that they do not specifically prohibit them, either. He said his interpretation of the laws restricting the ability of local government to order referendums refer only to binding referendums, not non-binding ones as the South Shore question would be.

He also said there seems to be a fear about referendums and the potential that they could lead to frivolous ballot questions. But in this case, he said: “I don’t think the fear is well-justified.”

Stankiewicz also said there are unusual circumstances surrounding the South Shore referendum: There is bipartisan support for the referendum from the three county commissioners. The referendum would cost taxpayers nothing. And, there is already a referendum question on the ballot dealing with assessors in Center and Portage townships.

South Porter County Commissioner Carole Knoblock, who proposed the referendum question at last week’s commissioner meeting, said she was disappointed in the board’s decision because she believes that all voters should get to say if they would support a new tax for the extension.

“I’m just sorry about it,” she said of the vote.

Knoblock proposed the referendum in anticipation of the upcoming session of the Indiana Legislature. A legislative study commission is analyzing possible funding options for the South Shore extension to Lowell and Valparaiso, and is expected to make its report by Nov. 1. Its findings could be used as the basis for legislation in the 2009 General Assembly.

Posted 7/23/2008