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Indiana lawmakers face a key deadline in their legislative session this week: Wednesday is the last day for the Senate and House to approve bills that originated in their respective chambers. Next week, lawmakers will consider bills that originated in the opposite chamber.
The most significant bill in this year’s General Assembly – House Bill 1001, the governor’s property tax restructuring package – was adopted last week.
The Senate is expected to consider another key property tax-related bill this week, Senate Bill 16, which makes changes in property assessments, most notably eliminating township assessors and consolidating all assessment duties within the county assessor’s office. This provision is also part of HB 1001 and should become law.
The Senate is also expected to vote on SB 312, a significant bill worthy of adoption that would change county governance by replacing the county commissioners with a single countywide executive. The bill would transfer power to make laws from the commissioners to county councils, which would have nine members instead of seven.
President Bush will deliver his eighth and final State of the Union address at 9 p.m. today. Bush will doubtlessly call for passage of the economic stimulus package that would give American workers rebates of $600 per person; couples would receive $1,200, plus $300 per child. Bush reached agreement with congressional leaders on the package late last week.
But analysts expect no other major initiative in Bush’s speech, which will likely focus on the economy and the war in Iraq.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has canceled a hearing scheduled for Tuesday on Aqua Indiana’s proposed 100 percent rate increase.
The utility had proposed doubling its rates last August, saying a typical monthly water bill would rise from $17.82 to $35.64 and a typical sewer bill from $24.77 to $49.54. The company said the 100 percent increase was necessary to recoup costs of improvements. The increase was originally meant to apply to customers in both southwest and northern Allen County, but City Utilities is slated to take over the northern portion of the utility and will implement its own rate structure. As part of an agreement with the city, Aqua Indiana said its increase to southwest customers would be no more than 75 percent.
With the sale of the northern utility, “the company has to come up with brand new information now,” said Mary Beth Fisher, spokeswoman for the utility commission.
The new hearing date is tentatively March 4.
The Fort Wayne Community Schools board will hear the first of a series of reports on school improvement efforts today.
Chief Academic Officer Carol Lindquist will discuss how the schools ensure they are using the best methods to bolster student achievement, and John Kline, director of School Improvement Systems, will explain what steps are being taken by schools to create a continuous improvement plan.
The board also will consider recommendations for roofing projects to be done this year at several schools.
The Fort Wayne Plan Commission will hold a public hearing today on a proposal from AALCO Distributing Co. to move its headquarters to 26 acres of land in an industrial park on Washington Center Road. The beer distributing firm has outgrown its current east-central location and wants to move in three to five years. The company also wants to sell a parcel of the site to ABF Freight System Inc. for a truck terminal at the site. ABF currently has its terminal on Wells Street but wants to move to be closer to the highway.
The project cannot move forward without approval of a rezoning request by the plan commission and the City Council.
Members of the commission will also hear plans for a student housing project on St. Joe Road.
On Thursday the Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals will hold a hearing on the proposed cell-phone tower near the GE campus on Broadway. Residents of the historic West Central neighborhood are opposed to the tower because it will cause blight in an area that they are working hard to improve.
Perhaps the biggest presidential primary to date happens Tuesday when Florida Republicans and Democrats make their preferences known. The primary could make or break the candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who campaigned little in the previous primary states to place his fortunes on the Florida vote.
The primary comes one week before “Super” Super Tuesday, when more than 20 states – including New York, California and Illinois – hold primaries.
