CROWN POINT | It is the ultimate stress test for some members of the Lake County Council.
The once rigid opposition of councilmen Ted Bilski and Thomas O'Donnell to a local option income tax is beginning to warp under the heat and extreme stress of discontent with property tax spending here.
"This will be the biggest vote I've ever made," O'Donnell said last week faced with a majority of his council members supporting a 1 percent income tax and an audience of tax activists demanding he not cave in.
Bilski said at the same meeting, "I wouldn't cave to anyone, but being a realist we have to look at the harmful approach our legislators are going to take with us if an income tax isn't passed."
They didn't cave Monday. They and Councilman Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, voted against a new tax, which was OK'd 4-3 on first reading.
The council votes again Dec. 19 and if the Board of Commissioners veto it, a third and final vote comes Dec. 27 and at least five council votes are needed to enact the tax.
Lake officials have resisted an income tax for decades because heavy industry would be exempt from it and local government had plenty of money to spend from property tax and casino revenues.
But state officials first grabbed off tens of millions in local casino funds and this year it would withhold $15 million in property tax revenue from county, township and municipal government if Lake remains the only county in the state without an income tax.
There are threats of even deeper penalties in future years that would wholesale slash local public safety budgets and other social spending.
State Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, said last week the council must trust state government on the tax issue and act. "They've got some work to do and the clock is ticking."
Some local officials counsel defiance, but O'Donnell said last week, Lake County has to play by the rules to be dealt into state-inspired property tax relief plans. "The state makes the rules. They are the only game in town."
Four council members representing Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Whiting declared their reluctant support for an income tax over the summer and early fall.
The pressure got to Commissioner Gerry Scheub briefly last month, publicly wavering one day and then reverting back into an income tax opponent the next.
O'Donnell and Bilski appeared to remain in the anti-tax camp, but Blanchard said he has noticed the pressure building on his two colleagues. "I could see the stress in their faces."
Although they have made no commitments, the two councilmen publicly promised to reassess their view last week in the wake of a new consultant's report that concluded suburban homeowners would benefit more greatly -- than earlier realized -- from income tax redistributed as property tax relief.
O'Donnell said, "Today, for the first time, I get faxed to me this option. This is totally different than what we have been talking about for the last six months. This is a much more fair distribution formula."
Bilski said, "We don't have a lot of options. The numbers don't do Hobart or Ross Township any good and I have to make sure our communities get true property tax relief, but I'm willing to look at anything."
