An Indiana House bill that would allow counties to add an additional $1 surcharge on state park entry fees was referred Feb. 12 to the Indiana Senate for consideration. The bill would allow the surcharge to be collected by the county in which the park resides, such as Porter County which houses Indiana Dunes State Park, to be used for “infrastructure, including water quality improvements or for public safety.”
HB 1245, authored by Rep. Dave Hall, R-Brown County, passed out of the house on third reading with 80 yeas and 11 nays. If passed, it would not apply to season pass holders.
Porter County Council President Andy Vasquez, R-4th, said even if the measure is passed, “it’s not going to be the cure-all.” He said if Senate Bill 1, a property tax cut bill which passed Indiana Senate on first reading Thursday, were to become law “it’s going to leave us a little short on money.” Vasquez said extra funds from the HB 1245 surcharge would help “not only the citizens of Porter County, but those who are coming to use our parks.”
Indiana Dunes Tourism President and CEO Christine Livingston doesn’t believe the proposed bill would have any impact on her organization’s budget which is derived primarily from a 5% innkeepers’ tax, as well as from minor advertising revenue. “To my knowledge, this doesn’t include IDT at all,” she said.
What does include IDT is a symbiotic partnership between them, the state and national parks. “We have a close partnership,” Livingston said. “There’s no MOU (memorandum of understanding) or formal arrangement, but a lot of times we’re able to do the messaging and the marketing that the state and the national park wouldn’t have the dollars for.”
Livingston said IDT curates experiences for visitors to offer deeper, more meaningful adventures by encouraging parkgoers to explore all the local communities have to offer. “This is good for everyone,” she said. “Visitors have a better time, local businesses are patronized, and our region’s quality of life and place improves. The longer visitors stay, the more they spend and the more likely they are to appreciate our communities.”
Porter County Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, believes any surcharge money should be shared with those local cities and towns if the bill passes because they’re the ones bearing the brunt of the tourism. “I think it would be naive to think we would be entitled to all that money. It’s their police, it’s their fire departments that are dealing with all that traffic,” he said of the roughly two million visitors who come to the Indiana Dunes National Park and Indiana Dunes State Park each year. “They’re not traveling on county roads.”
While he believes the bill is very likely to pass into law he hopes state lawmakers will slow the process and make sure the parameters of the new surcharge are clearly defined. “The bill is vaguely written,” Biggs said of its current iteration, “much like when they passed the bill for consolidation of dispatching (for emergency services).”
If the bill passes and the Porter County Council opts to enforce a surcharge, Biggs would like to see it used toward the county’s ambulance service.
“That alone wouldn’t pay for it, but it would be a huge burden taken off our shoulders,” he said of the county’s ambulance contract with Northwest Health which is currently being renegotiated.
He doesn’t believe the surcharge would prevent a public safety tax because he doesn’t think one is in the works to begin with. “At this point, there’s no reason for me to believe the county’s going to raise a public safety tax or the LIT (local income tax which currently stands at .5%),” Biggs said.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.