government

Regional Cities Overview with Governor Pence

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Please join us tomorrow, May 1st at 10:15am as Governor Pence visits to provide an overview of the 2015 legislative session at The Vault (located inside The Exchange), 112 W. Jefferson Blvd., South Bend.

 

This is a great opportunity for business and community leaders from our region to thank the Governor for his advocacy of the Regional Cities Initiative and for making it a priority in budget negotiations with the legislators.  Also to demonstrate the great enthusiasm and regional collaboration occurring in north central Indiana as we now move forward in the competition to earn half of the $84M slated in the budget to support our Regional Cities of Northern Indiana projects.

 

If you are not able to attend the update, please consider sending a note to Governor Pence via his constituent representative at: kkane@gov.in.gov. Having the governor hear a huge thank you from the business community will be extremely helpful for future funding years.

Provided by Linda Yoder, Executive Director, Marshall County Community Foundation

Image Source:  Inside Indiana Business

Affordable Housing Task Force

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The Affordable Housing Task Force met on Monday the 27th to discuss the information Jonathan Leist, Culver Town Manager, had assembled through various meetings.  I attended four of the six meetings he reported on and was able to help fill in background.  In a nutshell, there are opportunities and developers that can be enticed to do work.

In a MCEDC site visit with Elkay, we were able to recruit Elkay’s management to assist us in our endeavors.  Two Elkay representatives attended the Monday meeting and brought demographics for our use.  They also volunteered to help with surveying to determine how many Elkay employees would be interested in relocating to Culver if housing were made available.

In the meeting with IHCDA, we learned that funds are available, but only for income based housing projects, not market based housing.  We did find that much of the projected income based rental rates are actually above the local market rate rents.

The Task Force agreed that it would be prudent to pursue both market based and income based housing to keep our options open.  The group tasked Jonathan to take a couple of things before the Town Council:  1)  A budget for a Needs Assessment Survey and 2)  A tentative agreement to consider tax abatement for the properties.  (Tax Abatement was requested by all of the developers Jonathan met.)  Jonathan accomplished #2 at last night’s Council meeting, but #1 was not approved as it would require an additional appropriation for the unbudgeted cost.

Image Source:  www.homeloanstoday.com

 

Tax Freedom Day 2015

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Today is National Tax Freedom Day for 2015.  Fortunately for those of us in Indiana, ours was back around the 18th of April, so this week’s paycheck is ours!

When I was reading this, I ran across this article talking about how poorly Americans did on understanding the U.S. Tax code.  I think I got 80%, but I’m going to agree with the article in saying some of the questions were a bit tricky.  I knew what they were talking about at least, though maybe not the specifics.

If you choose to read the article, check out some of the comments as well.  There was an interesting argument thread between the Taxed Too Much crowd and the Taxes Pay For Benefits group.  I tend to lean toward the former, but the latter made a few good points.

Happy Tax Freedom Day!

Image Source:  Tax Foundation

Solar Roadways

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Artist’s rendition of downtown Sandpoint, Idaho – Home of Solar Roadways Graphic design by Sam Cornett

I ran across this site for Solar Roadways the other day.  This is a pretty cool concept if they can get it off the ground.  The basic concept is to “pave” roads and sidewalks with durable solar panels.  Not only would they generate electricity, theoretically paying for themselves, but also have benefits:

  1. Lighted Pavement Markings, which would be below the surface.  They would never need to be “restriped” and would be visible at night.
  2. They would have internal heating elements to melt snow in the winter time.
  3. Power street lights, stop lights, etc.
  4. They could post emergency messages or warnings.
  5. Include sensors that could alert motorists to problems down the road.

It seems like there are lots of possibilities if this works out.  It’s conceivable that every home could have a driveway from this material as supplemental power.

The company is generating funds from a Federal Highway Grant as well as crowdfunding.  (Linked at their site.)  Check them out.  They have a lot of cool pictures… some conceptual and some actual prototypes.

Image Source:  Solar Roadways