Latest news with #IndianaStateLegislature
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Official concerned about loss of Indiana trails funding
In 2023, then-Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb dedicated $50 million in the state's budget to the Next Level Trails program. Since 2018, $180 million has gone into the initiative, and the state has partnered with local units of government and nonprofits to develop more than 217 miles of trail in 58 counties. Recently, Vigo County Commissioner Mike Morris, a longtime proponent of trails and running on them, said, 'I was advised that there was no Next Level Trails funding.' Last year, the program received $40 million. On Feb. 6, Morris testified before the Indiana State Legislature in support of reallocating about $30 million in Next Level Trails Grant funding. 'When I testified, I said that if the governor's directives are 10% reduction in all of your departments, why don't you cut $3 or $4 million but not defund it completely?' Morris said. 'The state told me the pressure on their budget has increased due to Medicaid,' Morris said. 'They've got to fund that, and if things have to give, I understand that. Medicaid has gone up more than anything else.' Next Level Trails grants have been instrumental in expanding and enhancing trails across Vigo County, including the Riley Spur Trail and other key projects that enhance outdoor activity, connectivity and quality of life for residents. Though the Riley Spur Trail will not be affected by the disappearance of Next Level Trail grants because the project has already been budgeted out, Morris laments any pause in creating and expanding trails. 'Acceptance for this trail building has been gaining momentum, and I don't want to see that stopped,' Morris said. 'I'd just hate to see that momentum put on hold.' A longtime runner Morris recalls when he embraced running wholeheartedly. 'I was 33 years old, and was in a department store buying pants with a bigger waistline,' he said. 'I was looking at the prices, and I took 'em and put 'em on the rack and walked out of the store and decided to start running again and lose weight. It was that simple.' Since then, Morris has competed in Canada twice for world duathlon (running and cycling) championships and flown to Switzerland for marathons, and has run throughout the country. First-place medals that he won recently in a multisport competition in Texas hang in his office. He recently competed in a 5K trail race in Plainfield. He first got involved in trail building when his friend, Pat Martin, was City Planner (which he was until 2016, when he became Bloomington's transportation planner). The federal government was funding public transportation — from highways to trails — and put the West Central Indiana Development Corporation (later, Thrive) in charge of planning and distributing that money. 'Pat came up with some good ideas — one was the National Road Heritage Trail through Terre Haute,' Morris said. 'There was a lot of public support for it. We just about had it done, and we had a mayoral election, and that changed some of the dynamics of building that. The state had allocated about $800,000 to build that trail. Changed mayors Judy Anderson, who was mayor from 2000-2003, was lukewarm about the trail until she realized how popular the idea was, Morris said, even driving a bulldozer across the trail during its construction. 'Everybody saw that it was a positive thing,' he said, and the Rails to Trails Conservancy, created in 1986, contributed to the momentum. 'Our local trail, the Riley Spur Trail, came together when the Surface Transportation Board sent letters to the commissioners about rail abandonment,' Morris said. 'I jumped in.' He began land banking those corridors because he didn't have to develop them immediately. When Rails to Trails began a program to build a trail from coast to coast, Holcomb was determined to be the first state to traverse the entire state for linkage, and to do so via Next Level Trails. From 'not here' to staunch support When Morris was championing the Riley Spur Trail as work began on the 7.9-mile asphalt trail, he encountered some not-in-my-backyard protests from neighbors, but that attitude has changed to, 'Oh, this is good for my backyard.' 'I had some people who were very wary of the Riley Spur Trail,' he said. 'One of the big fallacies was this was going to bring some kind of undesirables into their community. It doesn't, at all. 'Their neighborhood has improved and their property values have increased,' he added. 'They're talking to their neighbors now. Mom wants to get out with a friend and the baby stroller and walk a mile someplace talking. A safe environment to clear your mind.' Morris added that kids' minds are cleared when they get outdoors, away from their devices. 'That's what I can see on the Riley Spur Trail,' he said. 'I go there, and there's mom, dad and three kids, and the kids are going, 'Yeah!'' Fortunately, the Riley Spur Trail will need no additional money to continue construction. 'Our program is funded and we will complete it,' Morris said, adding that the next section will be completed later this year. 'It'll traverse Honey Creek and we have some bridge-building to do there.' He's more concerned about the bigger picture. 'I'm looking at this as more of a statewide program,' he said. 'We had a project from Rockville to the north end of the county — I have no way to complete that at this point. I don't have any funding to do anything.'
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State budget a primary concern at Third House meeting
GOSHEN — Elkhart County residents say they're concerned about proposed tax cuts by the Indiana State Legislature. They brought those questions to the Goshen Chamber of Commerce's Third House meeting on Friday. Local legislators Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, State Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, Rep. Joanna King, R-Middlebury, and State Rep. Dave Abbott, R-Rome City, attended one of the chamber's three scheduled Third House meetings this legislative session. Third House meetings are an opportunity for community members to visit with elected officials representing them at the Indiana General Assembly, learn which bills legislators are working on, and discuss concerns or interests with leaders. Residents who attended Friday's Third House were most concerned about tax cuts and services and supports that could be lost in the shuffle. 'We as citizens of the United States have to step up and figure out how we can be more responsible and expect less from the government and expect more from ourselves,' Miller said. Goshen High School student Isaac Moore called the situation with the Department of Education an 'inevitable dismantling,' and asked about the state's plan to ensure schools like his are adequately funded for diverse learning needs currently supported by Title I. 'I don't know what's going to happen out in D.C. I have no control over what happens in D.C. What I do hope is that locally we have a little bit more autonomy to make decisions that are best for our kids,' King said. 'I don't know that many decisions that are made at the federal level, I don't know that those decisions can't be made — and be made better — here at the state level.' King said she hopes that if the Department of Education is shuttered, the money will still be sent to the states to figure out what to do with it like they do in other areas with federal funding such as medicaid. Moore asked if they had a plan for if the money wasn't sent to the states. King said when she was a school board member at Middlebury Community Schools, it wasn't a lot. Both Goshen Community Schools Superintendent Jim DuBois and Concord Community Schools Superintendent Dan Funston were in attendance at the meeting. 'It is significant for Goshen,' DuBois said, and Funston said it was 4% of Concord's budget. In addition, Funston shared his district's budget, explaining that 114% of Concord's operating budget funded by property taxes goes to property casualty insurance, transportation and utilities. He said since 2020, property casualty insurance premiums have increased 22%, transportation costs are up 64% — in large part because the cost of a bus has doubled — and utility costs have gone up 32%. Former educator Tom Holtzinger said he's concerned about Medicaid funding. 'I feel like we're balancing the budget on the backs of the poor again,' he said. Doriot explained that Medicaid is the fastest growing portion of the state's budget. 'I believe it may be pushing 18% if this keeps on, very quickly, and there's only one place we have big enough to get that money and that's the schools,' Doriot said. 'The schools are 50%, higher ed's another 10 to 12%, and we have to rein it in and get it back to where it is. 'We've been looking at waste and all that but that peak drive from COVID … COVID's over and people are able to get back out and there are some very able-bodied that have figured out a way to say on it and we've got to work through that and I'm sorry but there are going to be cuts on it. We can't increase without a massive tax increase and very few people in this room like those words—tax increase— we're going to do our best, but it's going to get streamlined.' Aaron Stickel accused legislators of 'streamlining at the cost of people's health care.' 'You're proposing to cut 250,000 people in Indiana alone,' he said. King said during COVID, people weren't denied Medicaid and since then, those people have continued to use it. 'We have people that desperately need it and I want to make sure that we have the funds to help those that do need that help,' King said. 'One of the things that we're going to have to do is go back to the drawing board and say 'What are the guardrails to make sure that the people that are getting this service are meeting so that we can have people that are able-bodied, that could be working, that should be working, that are using this system, gaming this system, are not doing that anymore?'' King said since 2020, Medicaid has almost doubled. 'It's about responsible governance,' King said. 'It's going to be painful for some people, but I would argue that the people that it's probably going to be painful for are those that have been gaming the system. 'I'm all ears,' she continued. 'If you have any ideas on how to solve this challenge, I am all ears. We are right in that process, but we have to figure out a way to get to a healthier place.' One commenter proposed that people aren't able to go back to work and earn a wage that would allow them to leave Medicaid and asked what legislators could do ensure people could make enough money to finance their own health insurance. Abbott said every business owner he's spoken to said they couldn't find employees to fill positions. Caleb Miller, president of Viewrail, said that's not the case for him. All 375 of his employees make at minimum $25 per hour and Miller said his company also does workforce training. 'I think a lot of this does come down to an ability to offer living wages,' Miller said. 'People aren't going to come back if they aren't going to get a living wage.' Stickel asked why legislators are talking about tax cuts at all if Medicaid and education are underfunded. 'We all want less taxes personally, but it's your responsibility to make the hard decisions,' Stickel said. 'Why are we talking about tax cuts if we're talking about this critical infrastructure — our kids, people that need health care — those things are underfunded.' Abbott noted that it's not about income taxes — which are lowering slightly — but property taxes and it's because residential property taxes pick up such a high amount of that cost. 'People are getting priced out of their homes,' he said. 'The cuts, at least as far as property taxes, are trying to balance it so it's fair. You have businesses, you have caps, you have TIF districts, a lot of those things play into how we generate our revenue for the local communities. We're not targeting the state so much as we're targeting the local.' Miller reminded those in attendance that the federal deficit is $37 trillion. 'We're all in the same ship and that ship is causing a myriad of problems for states and local government,' he said. 'We have now a very active leadership that's doing a lot of things and we're all very, very nervous about that. And for us at the state level that's been a trickle-down effect. We are sandwiched between the federal government and what they're pushing down the pipeline and have traditionally and programs they've put in place.' Miller said the extra COVID money from the federal government allowed for many opportunities and when the money was gone, the state legislature has been expected to maintain those opportunities without it. 'It's straining us and it's strangling states,' he said. 'Our budget is hugely impacted and it affects every Hoosier.' Clerk-Treasurer Richard Aguirre argued that the state proposing local tax cuts was no different than the federal government cutting state funding. 'As much as I've heard legislators for decades when I was a reporter complain about the federal government taking away the state's ability to do things, I'd ask you to continue to consider that issue and when you're doing things like requiring local police to enforce immigration law,' he said. 'When you're limiting our income, the state is not cutting its state taxes and then having to deal with that impact. 'I've told all of you: the greatest gift you could give local government is just leave us alone for one session.' HEART OF THE HOOSIER King also presented Vince Turner with the Heart of the Hoosier Award, saying she'd been waiting to present it since a teen at the Statehouse told her that he wanted to be 'just like Vince Turner.' 'I realized Vince has impacted many lives,' she said. The award comes from King's office and is given to people in the community she represents who have impacted the area.
