Little Cal panel hears levee funding options

MUNSTER | Members of the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission heard of new options for funding levee operations and maintenance Wednesday while expressing concern any permanent funding plan must be adopted soon. 

House Bill 1264, co-sponsored by state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, is in the Senate after it was approved by the House. It requires property owners in the Little Calumet River and Burns Waterway watersheds to pay an annual fee on property tax bills to fund ongoing maintenance. Owners of residential parcels will pay $45, agricultural $90, commercial $180 and industrial or utility $360.

"We haven't been this close to having funding for operation and maintenance ever," said Bill Baker, commission chairman. "If this doesn't happen during this session (of the Indiana General Assembly), it will be two more years."

Tom Wichlinski said the legislation may not be perfect, but "it's a good working model to go forward."

However, a compromise bill is more likely to be presented at the Feb. 15 Indiana Senate committee meeting, North Township Trustee Frank A. Mrvan told the commission during the public comment section.

Mrvan said he spoke on behalf of his father, state Sen. Frank Mrvan Jr., D-Hammond.

A newly proposed three-tiered system of fees stands a better chance of passing the Senate committee and being presented to the full Senate, he said. That tiered system would base the annual fee on where residential property is situated. That fee would range from $25 to $45.

"It would still raise $6.4 million a year for maintaining the levee project," Mrvan said.

Another step would be to ask the Regional Development Authority to forgive the $6 million loan it gave the Development Commission in 2009, he said.

Mrvan urged area residents and public officials to attend the Feb. 15 committee meeting at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Currently, taking care of the levee system is a matter of "bubble gum and duct tape," Baker said. "We need to put something on the books."

Operating the $250 million Little Calumet River flood protection system could be "a benchmark for regionalism," Baker added.

The need for ongoing maintenance was highlighted in Executive Director Dan Repay's report. The rebuilt pump at Burr Street in Gary went out during the last weekend of January and requires a part that's been ordered. Fortunately, Repay said, the rebuilt pump is under warranty. However, the pump won't be fixed for about two weeks.

In the meantime, the pump needs to be started manually.

Other commissioners also were concerned a source of perpetual funding be developed for operating and maintaining the levee system.

Anthony Broadnax made references to resolutions passed by the Hobart and Lake Station city councils opposing the current House bill.

"I would say to those communities to take a step back and consider the bigger picture," he said.