The Gary Common Council on Tuesday failed to pass an ordinance with the Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority budget, after multiple council members noted that the organization’s executive director was absent from the meeting.
Only Councilman Dwight Williams, D-6th, voted in favor of the budget. Councilwoman Mary Brown, D-3rd, was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
The airport’s budget has been on its third and final reading at the last four council meetings, but it has been postponed each week. Tuesday’s meeting was the first time Gary council has voted on it.
The Gary/Chicago Airport Authority estimated its total budget to be more than $4.7 million in 2025. Its budget in 2024 was about $4.4 million, according to Post-Tribune archives.
The airport’s current tax levy is almost $2.3 million. In 2024, the maximum tax levy was about $2.7 million.
In November 2023, Gary Common Council passed the airport budget after it failed once. It had failed in a 2-1 vote with five council members abstaining before the council passed it.
On Tuesday, President Tai Adkins, D-4th, told Millicent Macon, the airport authority’s commissioner, that it’s important for an entity’s senior leader to be at the meeting.
Adkins asked Macon to give an overview of the department’s budget, which Macon said she didn’t have.
Adkins believes she “has a great relationship” with Vicari, but added that she feels disrespected that he didn’t attend the budget’s vote. Vicari attended a committee meeting last week to address budget concerns, and Adkins said the council didn’t attend.
However, Adkins said she believes attending the budget’s official vote is “very important.”
“I feel that the council should feel disrespected as well,” Adkins said. “To not be here for the vote of your budget is unheard of.”
Darren Washington, D-at large, is concerned about a $54,000 increase in Vicari’s salary since he was re-appointed in January 2022 that was approved by the Board of Commissioners. Macon said there was never an increase in Vicari’s salary.
Vicari’s salary is more than $218,000, Macon said.
Washington told Macon that the council was told that Vicari’s salary would be increased to about $224,000, and he was told that Vicari made about $170,000 when hired.
The councilman has concerns about the increase because he doesn’t know what’s changed at the airport since Vicari became executive director.
“Since he’s become head of the Gary airport, what increases have we seen?” Washington asked. “What production have we seen at the Gary airport? We haven’t seen anything.”
The councilman is also concerned that the airport doesn’t have passenger services.
“We can’t compare ourselves to Fort Wayne, South Bend or Indianapolis,” Washington said.
Washington also said he believes that the council and Gary residents haven’t seen the benefits of the entity obtaining the Griffith-Merrillville Airport.
The Gary/Chicago International Airport authority acquired the Griffith-Merrillville Airport in December 2023, with the acquisition valued at about $1.8 million.
Washington also said Vicari makes more than Gov. Eric Holcomb, who made more than $111,000 in May 2023, according to the Indiana State Government’s official website.
He also said that each member of the airport’s Board of Commissioners that agrees with a salary increase for Vicari should step down.
“Any chairperson from Lake County to Porter County to the four appointees that the mayor appoints, if you believe in his service and that we have made improvements at the Gary airport, I would encourage you to resign because we haven’t had any passenger service,” Washington said.
Former U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, airport authority chairman, on Wednesday afternoon released a statement on the council’s decision.
“While the airport authority is disappointed in the council’s decision, it respects its prerogative,” the statement said. “Going forward, the employees and the board will continue working hard to develop the Gary/Chicago International Airport in order to create new jobs and economic opportunities in Gary and Northwest Indiana.”
Vicari didn’t respond to requests for comment, including about the airport’s next steps for the budget.