Times of Northwest Indiana
The Northwest Indiana Regional Development has a broad mission and a strategic plan. Missing so far is an explanation of specifically where all the money will come from.
That must be made clear.
How much will the state pay? How much will come from federal sources? How much will local taxpayers be expected to pay?
After the RDA heard Tuesday night's presentation of a strategic plan prepared by the RDA's consultant, Chairman John Clark promptly asked the most relevant question: How do we pay for all this?
The answer consultant Bill Sheldrake of PolicyAnalytics gave was, in effect, stay tuned. That's to be addressed in the second phase of the study, with the results due early next month.
As far as it goes, the report on the first phase of the study looks good.
It offers a cursory look at the four major projects assigned by the RDA by its enabling legislation -- expand Gary/Chicago International Airport, support the Marquette Greenway plan, extend commuter rail service to Lowell and Valparaiso, and help the Regional Bus Authority oversee a transformation of bus services in the region -- and establishes benchmarks for evaluating these and future projects.
The return on investment numbers look promising. Every $1 investment means payoffs of:
* $117.33 for Gary's airport.
* $64.62 for commuter rail.
* $421.60 for the Marquette Greenway plan.
* $13.88 for the bus authority.
But while the RDA is promised an impressive influx of money through the lease of the Indiana Toll Road and the dues paid by the state, Lake and Porter counties and member communities, even those millions fall far short of the money needed to fully fund each of these projects.
So the RDA is left wondering where it will get all the money it needs to accomplish these projects.
Does it persuade the state to pony up more money to operate like the Major Moves philosophy of pouring a lot of money into infrastructure now for big benefits later?
Does it prioritize the projects, pouring most of its millions into the airport first so that effort can pay off in 10 years or less? Would that risk the support of Porter County, which joined in hopes of extending commuter rail service to Valparaiso?
Will any of these projects stumble because of perceived obstacles? In the case of commuter rail, getting agreements from the owners of existing rail lines to offer passenger service on their busy tracks could cause major delays. For the airport, obstacles to overcome include getting EJ&E Railroad to agree to move its tracks, and perhaps dealing with the environmental legacy of industrial use of nearby lands.
Will any of those potential obstacles dramatically increase the cost of those projects?
The RDA is still in its infancy, having not yet justified its existence to the State Budget Committee.
In order to prove its worth, the RDA needs to move quickly to get the numbers it needs to address the specifics.
We support the RDA and its work but part of its promise was to be very open, very transparent. Making sure all cost estimates and sources of funds are made public is a part of keeping that promise.
So show us the money.