The Porter County Foundation, comprised of all the members of the county council and board of commissioners, voted Tuesday afternoon to take $14 million over two years, with the intention of repayment, from the principal held from the sale of the former county hospital.
Touching the principal requires a unanimous vote, and all 10 members of the two bodies were present and in agreement on the move. A strong inducement for the decision, and one that was cited repeatedly, was avoiding an increase of the county’s .5% local income tax, or LIT.
The money will be used to fund road projects and the county’s ambulance contract, which is expected to more than triple after the end of the year.
Before the vote, Amanda Black, representative from Capital Cities, the foundation’s fiduciary investment advisor, informed the body that its year-to-date return of 10.5% is “beyond expectations” for the way the portfolio is designed. It has, however, trailed its benchmark expectation of 12.2% and she warned, “There is expected to be more volatility in the markets,” moving forward with talk of a bubble in AI stocks.
With a total portfolio of $203 million, the foundation voted to withdraw $7 million each on Jan. 1 of 2026 and ‘27, as well as continue to draw the maximum allowable percentage of earnings – 5% – over the next two years. The foundation has traditionally drawn 3.5% of earnings, but chose to take 5% in 2025.
The group also, at the suggestion of Commissioner Barb Regnitz, R-Center, directed its attorneys to draft a letter to the Indiana State Legislature asking for approval to loan money to Porter County municipalities and agencies such as the Porter County Regional Airport, as part of its “safe investments” portfolio.
“I think it just makes sense to have that option, whether or not we would do it,” said County Council President Andy Vasquez, R-4th.
The vote came after months of discussions, budget workshops with the auditor’s office, ongoing ambulance contract negotiations that are unlikely to wrap up before the final budget is due to the state Nov. 3, and warnings that millions of paving grants could be lost or even have to be repaid if committed paving projects don’t begin soon. The county ambulance contract with Northwest Health currently costs $665,000 per year.
Councilwoman Michelle Harris, R-At-Large, serves on the negotiating committee and said Tuesday that an ambulance contract agreement is near. She said the group met last week and another five-year contract is expected, though this time with a clause that allows for reevaluation after three years. The new contract is expected to cost $2.1 million per year.
Five million dollars will support right-of-way paving. “Right now we do not have a line item for paving,” said County Council Vice President Red Stone, R-1st. “We have to get a handle on paving.”
“I can get on board with this if it keeps us from raising taxes on people,” Councilman Andy Bozak, R-At-Large, said.
“The way I see it, we can either raise the LIT or spend away the reserves,” said Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North. “I feel very uncomfortable going to our residents saying, ‘Hey, we need some more of your paycheck,’ especially when we’re sitting on $203 million.”
Biggs pointed out that he and Councilman Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, were in office when the foundation was formed in 2016 and said he felt taking the principal funds out could be done without “damaging anything we’ve done so far.”
“I never thought I would consider taking principal out,” Rivas said. “If we do this, I think we should pay it back as soon as possible.”
The foundation board did confirm with County Attorney Scott McClure that while it only has the authority to remove the principal with a unanimous vote, repaying the money is up to the county council and only requires a majority vote.
“I’m kind of looking at this like a bridge loan to get us through for two years,” said Stone, referring to a provision in SB 1 that no longer requires the county to divert funds to cities and towns as of 2028.
At the county council meeting immediately following the foundation meeting, Rivas pushed for a 3% raise for all county employees. His colleagues were amenable to entertaining the idea, except for elected officials and those employees with state-mandated pay increases.
The council took the auditor’s office up on its offer to come up with budget figures for 2% and 3% raise options.
Auditor Karen Martin said they’ll have those figures by Thursday so the council may study them in advance of its final budget hearing Monday evening, when a decision will be made.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
