Dan Carden, Times of Northwest Indiana
daniel.carden@nwi.com
Gov. Mitch Daniels will not call the General Assembly back to Indianapolis to change the date of a special transit referendum, even after the Lake County Council voted Tuesday not to pay for the state-mandated election.
"Local officials should work to resolve it," Daniels' spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said.
That decision bounces the question back to the five-member Lake County board of elections, which will decide what to do next at its meeting Tuesday. County Elections Director Sally LaSota said she doesn't know what the board will do.
"It's never happened before," LaSota said of the County Council's decision not to pay for an election. "It's mandated, and it's our job to conduct elections. It's a Catch-22."
The off-year election is estimated to cost $414,000.
State Sen. Luke Kenley, a Noblesville Republican, said if the county is not ready to hold the election, they should delay it.
"I'm not going to press and say this is a violation of the law if they choose not to do it at this time," Kenley said. "If they're not ready, we certainly understand that."
Kenley said the referendum requirement to the regional transit authority proposal is to give taxpayers a voice in whether the authority is created, he said. The referendum was scheduled for the May 2010 primary, but the date got shifted to November during state budget negotiations.
State Rep. Earl Harris said the County Council made the correct decision: If there's no money to pay for the election, the election shouldn't be held.
"I don't think we should have a referendum this year that costs money we don't have," said Harris, an East Chicago Democrat. The council cut 112 jobs and $15 million from its budget last year and faces another $10 million to $15 million cut this year.
But state Rep. Ed Soliday, a Valparaiso Republican, said Lake County's decision means it's playing chicken with its bus system.
"This kind of confrontational in-your-face stuff rarely is constructive in solving problems and creating jobs in Indiana," Soliday said. "Lake and Porter County like to have feuds with the state. Why? I don't know."
The legislature is allowed to return for a one-day session to correct technical errors in recently passed legislation, but Soliday said changing the date of the election is more than a technical change.
"I've talked to a lot of folks -- it ain't gonna happen," Soliday said. "Downstate, they're going to say this is another example of Lake County wanting something for free."