From the Northwest Indiana Times:
Additional funding Merrillville is expected to have in 2014 because of the
newly adopted Lake County income tax has some town officials contemplating how
it could be spent.
As Merrillville
leaders develop the 2014 budget, Councilman Shawn Pettit suggested the town
could consider turning on some of the streetlights that were disconnected in
2009.
At that time, the
council decided to turn off hundreds of streetlights on main roads as a
cost-cutting measure.
During Tuesday's Town
Council meeting, Pettit said he has received a couple of phone calls from
residents asking about the status of the lights. Turning some of them back on
could create safer streets in town, he said.
Clerk-Treasurer Eugene
Guernsey, a former Merrillville police officer, thinks reconnecting
streetlights would "do absolutely nothing."
Guernsey also said he
wants to wait to make any new financial commitments for 2014 until the town
knows exactly how much additional funding Merrillville will receive because of
the income tax.
"I don't want to
spend any more than we have," Guernsey said.
In May, Lake County
Commissioner Roosevelt Allen told the council Merrillville is projected to
receive an additional $1.3 million in 2014 because of the tax.
Guernsey said the tax
will provide financial help to the town, but officials likely won't know how
much of an impact it will have until early next year.
...
