Chesterton has joined Porter and Burns Harbor in throwing its support to the
Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority (RDA).
At its meeting last night, the Town Council voted 4-1 to adopt a resolution
articulating its desire “to continue Porter County’s involvement and
Chesterton’s participation” in the RDA.
Member Jim Ton, R-1st, voted against the motion after previously voicing his
belief that the council should take the resolution under advisement.
The RDA has “benefited Porter County significantly by making investments in
Porter County projects of more than $17,200,000,” that resolution reads in
part, and those investments “have significantly enhanced and improved the
quality of life of Porter County residents, including the citizens of
Chesterton.”
The council adopted the resolution following a lengthy presentation by RDA
Executive Director Bill Hanna, who opened his remarks by immediately
acknowledging the RDA’s failure in the past to communicate regularly with
the town and other municipalities in Porter County. “We haven’t communicated
well what the RDA is,” he said, and the result has been the bruiting of
“hearsay and misinformation.”
For Hanna the whole point of the RDA is to make possible for the region what
would be impossible for any single municipality in the region. “Economic
development is very competitive on the ground level,” he said. “Times are
tight. Everyone’s struggling to find matching funds.”
Indeed, Hanna said, “federal funding models are starting to require
co-applications and in the future a town like Chesterton may not to be able
to apply for funds by itself.”
That’s where the RDA comes in, Hanna said. “We’re supposed to be the
catalyst. We do the heavy lifting of transformational economic development
that can’t be done by a single municipality.”
So the question becomes, as Hanna put it, “are we going to continue to be
islands or are we going to prosper with the regional approach?”
Under its authorizing legislation, Hanna said, the RDA was established to
pursue “five key focuses”: the Gary/Chicago International Airport, the South
Shore extension, Lake Michigan shoreline development, a regional bus
authority, and “other” economic development initiatives. So far the RDA has
concentrated on the first four of those five, Hanna said, so as not yet “to
open the Pandora’s box” of the “other,” more broadly defined focus.
The RDA receives its funding from a combination of sources: the state “kicks
in” $10 million annually from the proceeds of the Indiana Toll Road lease,
while it also receives $3.5 million annually from each of its five members:
East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, Lake County, and Porter County. Responding to
the complaint voiced by some that Lake County makes its annual contribution
from casino revenues, whereas Porter County does from an income tax, Hanna
said that in fact that income tax has become “primarily” a property-tax
relief mechanism and only secondarily an RDA funding source, since all
revenues from the income tax over and above $3.5 million go to homestead
credits. Right now, Hanna said, the homestead relief amount is around $9
million.
The return on $40 million in local funding has been great, Hanna said: over
$300 million, including $157,313,051 in federal dollars and $54,037,531 in
state dollars. And of that amount, $17,200,000 in RDA funding commitments
have found their way back to Porter County: $9.7 million for the Portage
Lakefront Park plus $350,000 more for land acquisition; $1.8 million to the
Town of Porter for the gateway project; $50,000 to the Town of Burns Harbor
for a trail study; $1.8 million for Valparaiso bus service; and $3.5 million
to the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District for double-decker
rail cars.
“That’s free market fertilizer,” Hanna said. “We’re just the fire starter.
We’re starting the fires that need to be built to keep this thing going.”
Discussion
Would the RDA be willing to help the Town of Chesterton and Porter hospital
develop the infrastructure needed to serve the new facility in Liberty
Township, given that project’s “extreme regional impact,” asked Member
Sharon Darnell, D-4th.
If that project is in the RDA’s scope, of course, Hanna said. If not, the
RDA can still participate in discussions with stakeholders.
“I concur with Sharon,” added President Jeff Trout, R-2nd. “A lot of people
don’t realize the new hospital will be the single largest project in Porter
County since Bethlehem Steel was built. We’ve got one chance to get that
right. Without question it’s the most important thing to be done here in 40
years.”
Member Emerson DeLaney, R-5th, noted that he’s closely followed the RDA
since its establishment. “Some of the five key focuses are controversial,”
he said. “I may not agree with all of them. But the needs of the many
outweigh those of the few and the money returned to Porter County in
investments is extremely significant to the betterment of the community and
the county.”
Ton, for his part, urged his colleagues unsuccessfully to postpone a vote on
the resolution “pending further research,” as he put it. “Some people have
serious questions. I don’t want to vote on this resolution right after the
presentation.”
But Ton was outvoted, with DeLaney making the motion to adopt the resolution
and Member Dave Cincoski, R-3rd, seconding it.
From the floor the council got some thanks from Pat Carlyle. “I am very
excited about this,” she said. “I think this opens wonderful opportunities
for us.”