North Porter County Commissioner John Evans suggested Tuesday that if Porter Hospital wants the tax abatement it’s seeking for its new hospital in Liberty Township, then it should agree to continue providing countywide ambulance service under the current arrangement.

In comments at the end of Tuesday’s commissioner meeting, Evans addressed the hospital’s tax abatement request in general against critics who say that the county shouldn’t consider the tax break. If the hospital were being built in Valparaiso or Chesterton or any other municipality, he said, the hospital would likely be placed in a Tax Increment Financing District and the city or town would be able to capture all the new tax revenue instead of distributing it as normal to the schools, library, county and other units.

But Evans also said that as part of a county-granted tax abatement, he would like to see Porter Hospital commit to continuing the countywide ambulance service after the current contract with the county expires in 2011 -- and to keep the county’s subsidy of $500,000 a year intact over the duration of the tax abatement.

Evans noted that not many hospitals provide ambulance service, since it tends to be a money losing venture. And he pointed out that Porter County used to pay Porter Hospital a $1 million annual subsidy for the EMS service, but when the Bethlehem Steel bankruptcy forced budget cuts, the hospital agreed to cut that subsidy in half. The county has been paying the same subsidy ever since.

The EMS contract between the county and the hospital is set to expire in 2011, raising questions about who will provide ambulance service after that and at what cost. In January, the commissioners formed a study committee to address the issue.

The hospital is now seeking a 10-year tax abatement for its new hospital at U.S. 6 and Ind. 49. The abatement would phase in the hospital’s property tax obligation on an estimated $130 million in assessed value for the land and buildings and $20 million in personal property.

If granted in full, the abatement would mean the hospital would pay property taxes based on a projected $20 million in assessed value on personal property the first year. In the second year, the hospital would pay taxes based on an estimated $28.5 million in assessed value, with the amount gradually increasing each year until the final year.

The Porter County Council will hold a public hearing on the abatement request at 5 p.m. Sept. 10.

In addition to Evans’ request that the hospital continue the EMS service after 2011, Porter County Council member Michael Bucko, D-at large, has also called on the hospital to make several commitments in return for the abatement, including a pledge to give top priority to Porter County residents in its hiring decisions.

Also weighing in on the hospital’s tax abatement request Tuesday was South Porter County Commissioner Carole Knoblock, who said she opposes the abatement.

The third commissioner, President Robert Harper, didn’t address the hospital tax abatement, but did make comments of his own at the end of Tueday’s meeting.

Citing a newspaper report about the impact of the property tax caps in Lake County, Harper said he suspects that there will be a “PR campaign like we’ve never seen” aimed at getting state lawmakers to either change the state’s tax caps or resist making them permanent.

The article that Harper cited reported that businesses and landlords in Lake County are benefiting the most by the tax caps instead of homeowners. Harper said that scenario is likely not true in most counties and that in Porter County, most businesses are already under the established tax caps. But he said he anticipates more articles painting the tax caps as negative, all in an effort to weaken the law in upcoming sessions.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners gave Porter County Plan Commission Executive Director Robert Thompson unanimous support for his efforts to obtain a $800,000 federal transportation grant to upgrade the Calumet Bicycle Trail. Evans said some portions of the trail are in terrible condition, and Thompson said a section on the western end of the trail has some serious drainage problems.

Thompson said a problem with the grant application, however, is that the federal government wants a long-term lease agreement for projects involving utilities, such as the Calumet Trail, which runs along a NIPSCO easement. Even though the county has an agreement with NIPSCO to allow the trail at least through the year 2023, that might not suffice for the federal grant criteria, Thompson said.

“It’s not going to be an easy road,” he said of the grant.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners awarded a contract to NCI for $66,965 to rewire the County Courthouse for a new, wireless telephone system.

The commissioners also opened nine quotes from firms interested in preparing a comprehensive drainage plan. The quotes will be under review.

Also, the commissioners agreed to close C.R. 950N on Oct. 3 for the second annual Zona Fest.

Posted 9/1/2009