Northwest Indiana Discussion

House votes to kill RBA

INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana House voted 96-3 on Thursday to replace the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority with a new commission led by Lake County mayors.

"The RBA has done a pretty good job of bringing folks together, they got a lot of bus companies to volunteer, got some efficiencies of scale, but have not been able to bring fiscal stability to organization," said state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, sponsor of House Bill 1366.

That legislation eliminates the RBA in favor of a new Northwest Indiana Bus Commission, which Soliday expects would be better organized and capable of devising a financial plan to support public transportation in the region, without which bus service could end in 18 months, he said.

The new commission would be made up of mayors of Lake County cities and towns with more than 19,000 residents and a Lake County commissioner. Under the legislation, the bus commission must present a financial plan to the Lake County Council by Oct. 1.

"What needs to happen and needs to happen very quickly is for Lake County to answer three basic questions: Do we need a bus system? Do we want a bus system? And how do we pay for it?" Soliday said.

State Reps. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, and Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, co-sponsored the legislation, which now moves to the Senate. Dobis said the RBA simply isn't up to the task of finding the funding to keep bus service going.

"It's too big, totally unprofessional and oftentimes has a difficult time getting a quorum," Dobis said. "We've got people who are recipients of the funds we're talking about that sit there and vote for each other on the distribution. That's wrong."

Dobis said the Lake County Council could enact a food and beverage sales tax or a local option income tax to support public transportation.

All region representatives voted in favor of the measure except state Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage. Moseley said he wants a funding plan in place before another government commission is created.

Do YOU need higher food prices or income taxes?

they'll give themselves a raise within a month or so of these taxes going into effect.

just wait and see.

Have you not heard, we need to spread the wealth.

That is what the Marxist in Chief says.