VALPARAISO | Presented with a proposal that offered an unclear road map, Porter County voters Tuesday overwhelmingly opposed the creation of a Regional Transportation District and the potential for an income tax increase.
The proposal was defeated by a vote of 12,255 to 3,122.
About 15 percent of the voters turned out, which is about average for an off-year election.
It failed by approximately 18-1 margin to the east in St. Joseph County, which was the only other of the four associated counties that obeyed a state mandate to host a referendum.
Porter County Commissioner Bob Harper, a leading opponent of the measure, said this defeat, like those involving the Porter Township and Michigan City school projects earlier this year, was not simply a vote against a new tax.
"I think we had an example here where people started to understand what's going on," he said.
He and County Council member Dan Whitten, who waited for the referendum returns at the Porter County Administration Center, criticized the RTD proposal as unfocused and trailing in the list of priorities facing the region.
The only type of transportation project that makes sense to invest in at this time are on-demand bus services for at-need groups, such as the elderly and disabled, they said.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, who supported the concept behind the RTD and yet had problems with the way it was carried out, predicted it will be another 10 years before state legislators even consider mass transit funding for Northwest Indiana.
"It's a big job killer and the people have spoken," he said.
Soliday does not expect that lawmakers will try to revive the RTD proposal on their own or by allowing Lake and LaPorte counties to host a vote next year.
Lake and LaPorte counties ignored a state mandate to host referendums Tuesday. The RTD legislation, which was thrown into the state budget at the last minute this year by lawmakers, allowed the district to be created with approval by just two of the four targeted counties.
The RTD proposal faced strong opposition led by Harper and involving such unlikely allies as the Northwest Indiana Patriots.
Proponents were less visible until just a few days before the referendum when a group calling itself Citizens for Northwest Indiana sent out mailings calling on voters to support the measure. Those mailings also included a note of support from Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas, one of the few elected officials who took such a public stand in support of the measure.
The district would have allowed for creating a proportional income tax in each participating county to fund a regional bus system for Lake and Porter counties, pay for South Shore operations and finance commuter rail extensions to Lowell and Valparaiso.
