The Lake County Council started the new year by spending money it may not have and setting the stage for a possible new tax.
Council members hired four new Lake County police officers and 18 new county jail corrections officers who will cost taxpayers an additional $727,463 in salaries.
Council members also voted to appropriate $230,000 to shore up the county police retirement fund.
Dante Rondelli, the county's financial director, begged the council to impose a substantial spending moratorium until he and other financial officials review future expenses threatening to throw the county into a deeper deficit.
He warned the two new County Council members, David Hamm, D-Hammond, and Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point, the council must find an additional $4.5 million for improvements to the Lake County Jail. He said the police retirement fund may need an additional $1 million to remain solvent in the long run.
"This is a good segue to discuss an income tax," said Councilman Jerome Prince, D-Gary, who relinquished the council presidency after a year. "At the very minimum, we have to put it up for a vote."
The council and Board of Commissioners have been forced to borrow $15 million to plug a looming budget deficit caused by an explosion of new spending to bring the county jail up to federal standards under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
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The county has been forced to cut spending and reduce other areas of its payroll because of state-mandated property tax caps and a freeze on the county's total property tax levy until the county approves a local income tax.
The council attempted to pass an income tax in 2007, but the commissioners vetoed it. The Lake County Council couldn't muster a supermajority to override the veto.
Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, opposed any talk of an income tax until she could hold public forums with her constituents about the possible impact of a new tax.
New council President Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, who helped kill the 2007 tax move, said it was time to begin debating the income tax.
