By Andy Grimm, Post-Tribune staff writer
CROWN POINT-- The Lake County Council on Tuesday killed funding for a Nov. 3 referendum vote on creation of a four-county regional transportation authority, setting up a potential showdown with the county's own Election Board and state officials.
Legislation mandating the Nov. 3 vote, which would create a district that could approve a proportional income tax of up to .25 percent to fund transportation projects in Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties, passed the state General Assembly this summer, well after the time county officials had set their budget.
Holding a stand-alone referendum vote in Lake County will cost taxpayers an additional $414,000.
"We don't have the money, and we can't appropriate money we don't have," Council President Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point said Tuesday, after council members voted unanimously to deny a funding request from the Election Board.
County Commissioners last week announced plans to sue to block the referendum, or move the vote onto the ballot for the May 2010 primary to cut costs. On Tuesday, Commissioners' attorney John Dull said the lawsuit would not be filed, because the referendum cannot advance without funding.
Dull said the county Election Board could sue the council for nixing the funding, but that the county would file a countersuit claiming the additional $414,000 cost would impact the county's ability to fund public safety and health programs. County officials still are working to cut $1 million from the 2009 budget to make up for revenue shortfalls.
Councilman Thomas O'Donnell called the vote a statement "against unfunded mandates."
Elections Director Sally Lasota said her office will continue to prepare for a Nov. 3 vote, but without a budget appropriation, the county can't hire contractors, pay to print ballots or train poll workers.
"We're mandated by the state to conduct elections, but if we don't have an appropriation, I don't know what we can do," Lasota said.
"We'll take it to our board next week (during the Election Board's regular meeting) and ask them what to do."
With deadlines approaching for absentee ballots, elections staff would struggle to be ready for the vote if funding is approved by mid-September at the latest, Lasota said.