Sec. 23. (a) The board shall annually prepare a budget for the purpose of operating and maintenance expenditures of the authority and shall calculate the tax levy necessary to provide funds for the operating expenditures necessary to carry out the powers, duties, and functions of the authority. The budget must be prepared and submitted:

(1) before or at the same time;

(2) in the same manner; and

(3) with notice;

as provided by the statutes relating to the preparation of budgets by eligible entities. The budget is subject to the same review by the department of local government finance as exists under the general statutes relating to budgets of eligible entities.

     (b) If the eligible entity that established the authority is a county, city, or town, the fiscal body of that entity may review and modify the authority’s operating and maintenance budget and the tax levy to meet it, in the same manner as the budgets and tax levies of executive departments of that entity are reviewed and modified. This power includes the power to reduce any item of salary.

     (c) Whenever a tax levy is required to finance the budget of an authority that was established by a city or town, the fiscal body of the county also may review the budget and tax levy of the authority, unless the district:

(1) lies wholly within, or coincides with, the boundaries of a city or town;

(2) is not the recipient of funds from a county-wide tax levy made specifically for the operating and maintenance budget for that authority; and

(3) was established by the fiscal body of the city or town, acting independently.

However, the budget and tax levy of the authority are subject to review or modification by the fiscal body of the city or town with which it shares territory, in the same manner as the budgets and tax levies of the executive departments of that city or town are reviewed or modified.

     (d) If an authority was established by another eligible entity or by two (2) or more eligible entities acting jointly, its operating and maintenance budget and the tax levy to meet it is subject to review and modification by the same body that reviews and modifies the budget of each of those entities in the same manner as the budgets and tax levies of those entities, including reduction of any item of salary.

     (e) This subsection applies only to the airport authority established by the city of Gary. The following provisions apply if the board enters into a lease, management agreement, or other contract under an application approved by the Federal Aviation Administration under which the lessee or other operator agrees to lease, manage, or operate all or substantially all of the airport and its landing fields, air navigation facilities, and other buildings and structures owned by the authority:

(1) The board shall, to the extent permitted by federal law or any grant agreement, make distributions to the city of Gary from the payments received under the lease, management agreement, or other contract.

(2) The distributions to the city of Gary shall be made in installments and on the dates determined by the fiscal body of the city, and shall be paid to the fiscal officer of the city for deposit in the city’s general fund.

(3) Money distributed to the city of Gary under this subsection may be used for any legal or corporate purpose of the city and may not be used to reduce the city’s maximum levy under IC 6-1.1-18.5, but may be used at the discretion of the city fiscal body to reduce the property tax levy of the city for a particular year.

     (f) The general assembly finds the following:

(1) The city of Gary faces:

(A) unique and distinct challenges due to high levels of unemployment, the character and occupancy of real estate, and the general economic conditions of the community; and

(B) unique and distinct opportunities related to transportation and economic development;

that are different in scope and type than those faced by other units of local government in Indiana.

(2) A unique approach is required to fully take advantage of the economic development potential of the city of Gary, the Gary/Chicago International Airport, and the Lake Michigan shoreline.

(3) The powers and responsibilities provided to the airport authority established by the city of Gary by subsection (e) and the other provisions of this chapter are appropriate and necessary to carry out the public purposes of encouraging economic development and further facilitating the provision of air transportation services and economic development projects in the city of Gary.

(4) The exercise of the powers and responsibilities granted to the airport authority established by the city of Gary by subsection (e) and the other provisions of this chapter is critical to economic development not only in the city of Gary, but throughout northwest Indiana, and is a public purpose.

(5) Economic development benefits the health and welfare of the people of Indiana, is a public use and purpose for which public money may be spent, and is of public utility and benefit.

[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citations: 19-6-2-25; 19-6-3-26; 19-6-3.5-27.]

As added by Acts 1980, P.L.8, SEC.73. Amended by P.L.107-1993, SEC.2; P.L.90-2002, SEC.330; P.L.182-2009(ss), SEC.269; P.L.257-2019, SEC.79.