"No new taxes. Not now. Not ever." says Lake County Commissioner Fran DuPey, D-Hammond, in response to a county food and beverage tax and a vehicle registration surcharge. "How can I campaign for office on no taxes, and then one month later say, 'Oops, I changed my mind?' Every time there is a money problem that comes up, someone says let's put in this kind of tax or that kind of tax."
Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Schererville, is also adamant on no new taxes. "No. We have to do a lot more cutting before I could ever support that," Scheub said.
"If we had passed the income tax, would any cuts have been made?" Scheub asked. "They probably would have added people to the payroll."
In response to the tax caps imposed by House Bill 1001, the county's 2009 budget was not only $15 million slimmer but also eliminated 112 county jobs.
Lake County Councilman Tom O'Donnell, D-Dyer, supports a food and beverage tax as a way to raise revenue for a regional bus system. Hammond and East Chicago are planning to cut their bus service in 2009, and Councilman O'Donnell says he will raise the issue again as early as January.
"Without new revenues, I don't see how they can avoid collapse of our bus system otherwise," O'Donnell said.
Councilman Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, says he prefers an added vehicle registration fee excise tax on personal vehicles to help supplement road resurfacing projects.
However, Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, D-Gary, believes neither tax will bring in enough revenue to offset the freeze on property tax levies; a freeze mandated by the state for refusing to pass a county option income tax.
"If we are going to adopt any tax, we need to adopt the 1 percent local option income tax," Allen said.
Commissioner Allen, what part of "no" don't you understand? Commissioners Scheub and DuPey have it right. NO NEW TAXES. There is still plenty of waste and extravagance that can be cut from the county budget before you even entertain the idea of any new taxes or fees.