CROWN POINT | Lake County commissioners say they have no stomach for a new food and beverage tax and are telling supporters of a county vehicle registration surcharge they are probably just spinning their wheels.
"No new taxes. Not now. Not ever," Commissioner Fran DuPey, D-Hammond, said in the wake of a recent debate on the Lake County Council about new taxes to raise revenue for public transportation and road repair. "How can I campaign for office on no taxes and then one month later say, 'Oops, I changed my mind?' Every time there is a money problem that comes up, someone says lets put in this kind of tax or that kind of tax."
Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Schererville, said his position on any new taxes is the same.
"No. We have to do a lot more cutting before I could ever support that," Scheub said.
Their vow comes a year after they vetoed a 1 percent income tax.
"If we had passed the income tax, would any cuts have been made?" Scheub asked. "They probably would have added people to the payroll."
The County Council passed a 2009 budget that eliminated 112 county government jobs.
Councilman Tom O'Donnell, D-Dyer, said this week he raised the food and beverage tax issue this month as a means to cover projects -- including regional bus service -- not funded by the Legislature. He said he will do so again as early as next month.
"I think we have to talk about why public transportation is going to be more and more important," he said. "Without new revenue, I don't see how they can avoid collapse of our bus system otherwise."
Councilman Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said earlier this month he would prefer an added vehicle registration fee excise tax on personal vehicles to supplement road resurfacing.
Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, D-Gary, said neither tax would raise enough money to meet the crisis in local government revenue brought on by a state-mandated freeze on property tax levies to punish the county for refusing to pass a 1 percent local income tax. It has cost cities, towns, township and county government agencies $200 million to date.
"If we are going to adopt any tax, we need to adopt the 1 percent local option income tax," Allen said. "We are coming to the point where we are having difficulty providing even vital services that have to come first."
