To: All Chamber Members

Tuesday, November 3 is an important day for St. Joseph County businesses and residents. A single issue election will be held to determine if our county should join a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). The counties involved are Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph. Only two of the counties have chosen to hold the election. Voter turnout is anticipated to be very low. So, your vote really counts tomorrow.

The Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County is, and will continue to be, a proponent of regional cooperation. However, this particular issue is one that we believe does not benefit our community. Therefore, we are encouraging a NO vote on this issue.

We believe there are critical flaws in the proposed RTA that call for its defeat.

1. The RTA comes with a cost to our residents. The RTA would be funded through a ¼% Option Income Tax. We believe that now is not the time to be passing Option Income Taxes on our residents. The economic recovery is in its early stages. Increased taxes now may stifle local growth.

2. St. Joseph County’s voice on the RTA would be that of a minority partner. Our voice in the RTA can easily be overridden by those of the two region counties. Lake and Porter Counties look to gain the most from this new RTA.

3. The tax does nothing to support our local transportation entities. TRANSPO is excluded from receiving funds from the RTA.

4. The main entity that would benefit from the RTA would be the South Shore. This is a very important transportation entity for our community, however, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) Board already serves the interests of the South Shore and our local appointees represent our community well.

For the above reasons, we believe that a NO vote is important to our community. St. Joseph County has chosen to only open 30 polling places for this election. This is an important cost savings measure for the county as they have to fund this election. You can find your polling place by visiting either of these Web sites:

www.stjosephcountyindiana.com/departments/voter/SpecialElectons2009.htm

or

www.indianavoter.com

To read more, view the article that appeared in Sunday's South Bend Tribune.