Are we really A-OK with an RDA?

In City Council committee chambers on Tuesday the viewing public heard something said that could significantly affect the future of Fort Wayne and the surrounding 11-county area.

A seasoned veteran councilman mentioned that there would be discussion at the Fifth Tuesday meeting in January of an RDA tax collected from an increase in the Community Economic Development Income Tax.

To the untrained ear, this is mere gobbledegook, another tax … blah, blah, blah. However, this is so much more impactful than an ordinary tax increase. This tax will be for the specific purpose of funding the Regional Development Authority of Northeast Indiana.

Key information to know about the RDA:

• Its board is appointed by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

• It was created by the Regional Cities legislation of 2014 at the behest of the IEDC.

• There are four Regional Development Authorities in the state.

• Each funds public/private economic development projects.

• Each has eminent domain authority.

The RDA board reviews government-proposed economic development projects and funds those deemed to meet their requirements, which are given the highest priority.

This was kicked off with great fanfare last year when Greater Fort Wayne and the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership were promoting the “Road to One Million.” These organizations put together a 200-page application to the IEDC for the sweepstakes to win $42 million of economic development matching grants for projects in our region. Our 11-county region and two others won, and the state pledged $126 million of funds recouped by a tax amnesty program the state conducted to retrieve back taxes without penalty. Much of this was money that should have been returned to county auditors to be distributed to local governmental entities. A portion of these funds were from back county income taxes, which are collected by the state. This competition lured county governments in to get their share of the state money, and they each passed an ordinance that put them in an RDA to be eligible to win.

Now that the $42 million is spent or spoken for, the RDA has the ability to be funded by income tax, by state statute.

Each county’s County Option Income Tax Council has the authority to raise income taxes and designate them to fund its RDA. In Allen County, as we discussed in the debate over the new business personal property tax exemption, the COIT council is dominated by the Fort Wayne City Council. That means if the RDA tax is to be a reality, Fort Wayne City Council would be the body to enact it.

A dedicated income tax revenue stream will enable the RDA to bond for large capital projects such as an arena or a theme park.

Questions Allen County residents should ask themselves are:

1. Why do we need a Regional Development Authority to direct our local projects?

2. Should we be taxing people to fund an organization whose sole purpose is to arbitrarily pick winners and losers and distribute grants to the winners while taxing the losers?

3. Do we really want to empower with taxing authority an unaccountable board appointed by Indianapolis bureaucrats?

http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/columns/Are-we-really-A-OK-with-an-RDA–16370896