The future of an agency created four years ago to foster economic development in northwestern Indiana is in question as some Porter County officials push to withdraw from the partnership with neighboring Lake County.
The Porter County Council voted 4-3 this month to leave the group and stop making $3.5 million in annual payments, but some other county leaders believe that action was illegal and Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority board members are considering a court challenge.
County Auditor James Kopp and Treasurer James Murphy released a statement Friday saying withholding the payment from the regional group as the Porter County Council directed is “misdirected and illegal” and that they would make this month’s scheduled payment.
The development agency was established in 2005 to support long-term regional transportation and economic development projects. Porter and Lake counties, along with the cities of East Chicago, Gary and Hammond, each invest $3.5 million annually.
The Porter County Council’s decision to withdraw was a reversal of its 4-3 vote in 2005 to join the partnership.
Councilwoman Rita Stevenson switched her voted from four years ago, saying the development group has not done enough to pursue its goals of improving the Gary airport and extending the South Shore commuter rail line to Valparaiso and Lowell.
Foes of the Regional Development Authority also raised objections to a proposal in the state Legislature that would create a regional transportation district for Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties and possibly give it the power to raise taxes.
State Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, called the Porter County move a “black eye” for northwestern Indiana, although he put some of the blame on the Regional Development Authority.
“It’s time that the RDA got off their butts and did something visible and something meaningful,” Dobis said. “That might be the message that the Porter County folks were sending. I don’t know.”
Porter County Commissioner Robert Harper, who supports leaving the partnership, said many in the county were frustrated by the development group.
“Those people on the council who voted to get out of the RDA, I think, are in touch with the people and feelings of the rest of Porter County,” Harper said.
The development authority’s lawyer, David Hollenbeck, said he believed state law would need to be changed to allow Porter County’s withdrawal and that the group had requested an opinion from the state attorney general’s office on the dispute.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said he was worried about the situation.
“I’m just really concerned about how we can get economic recovery to happen in northwest Indiana when people kill everything that has any hope of jobs,” he said.
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