House panel kills cap on Calumet Township poor relief spending

INDIANAPOLIS | A House committee on Wednesday scuttled a plan that could have reduced property taxes for Griffith residents by limiting Calumet Township's poor relief spending.

The House Ways and Means Committee stripped a proposed cap on township poor relief from Senate Bill 344 before voting to send the legislation to the full House.

State Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, chairman of the committee, said he removed the poor relief cap because it would have affected 16 Indiana townships besides Calumet.

"I do not take this removal lightly," Espich said. "But even if you want to do this, it's not a well-designed proposal."

State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster, a committee member, vowed to find other legislation the Calumet Township-Griffith language could be inserted in.

"I will keep fighting for Griffith to get relief from this burdensome level of taxation," Candelaria Reardon said. "I am extremely disappointed that the Republican-controlled House is supporting this outrageous level of taxation."

Espich said he will work with Candelaria Reardon to "look at other solutions."

Calumet Township, which includes parts of Gary, Griffith and unincorporated areas of Lake County, spends more on poor relief than any other township in the state.

Griffith leaders hoped that by limiting that spending, Griffith residents would no longer have to pay as much in township taxes.

Senate Bill 344, which makes changes to a variety of state and local tax matters, now advances to the full House, where lawmakers will have a chance to amend it before voting.

If approved by the House, the legislation is likely to end up in a House-Senate conference committee where lawmakers from both chambers will hammer out a compromise bill.

That compromise could include the township poor relief cap because the Republican-controlled Senate previously approved that language.