Legislators eye County Council oversight of tourism bureau budget

Two Republican state senators say they would like another set of eyes on the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority’s budget.

Senators Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, and Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, are co-sponsoring legislation in the coming legislative short session that would return final oversight of the SSCVA budget to the Lake County Council.

It is the same process currently used to provide additional oversight to the Lake County Parks Department, Lake Ridge Fire Department and Lake County Solid Waste Management District budgets, along with a couple others, which have appointed boards.

Niemeyer said the proposed legislation helps increase transparency. He said the legislation represents nothing negative against the tourism bureau or the members of its appointed board, but a desire to enact a second level of oversight.

“I thought we need a second set of eyes on that budget,” Niemeyer said. The process would be no different from that for the other entities like the parks department and LCSWMD and is not intended to allow the county council to nickel and dime the entity to death every budget cycle, he said.

Niemeyer said he does not see where members of the board would have a problem with the legislation or bringing their budget before the council.

“It’s still keeping local control. The local ones are approving the budget,” Niemeyer said.

Both senators say the timing of the bill has nothing to do with the change in leadership pending at the tourism bureau after SSCVA President and CEO David Uran announced earlier this month he would be resigning at the end of his contract Dec. 31.

“I respect whatever went on (at the tourism bureau). That stuff’s totally out of my realm,” he said.

State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, said Thursday via text message the legislation sounds like a good idea. The SSCVA has bonding authority and appropriation discretion of tax revenue with no direct reporting to any (elected) body, he wrote.

Andy Qunell, chairman of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority Board, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday by press time.

Dernulc said the reason for the legislation was simple and stems from his time serving on the county council, where he served just shy of 12 years on the body.

“I’ve always kind of wanted a little bit of oversight on this,” he said.

Dernulc said he has been talking about the legislation with Niemeyer since early 2023. He wanted to introduce the legislation in his freshman session, but there was a learning curve as a new legislator.

“All I want is elected people to make the decision yes or no as we do with other districts boards and committees,” Dernulc said.

Long before talk of a county convention center, interim Lake County Council President Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, said she expressed a need for taxpayer dollars to receive oversight by elected officials, particularly the enacting body.

“I recently communicated my concern with Sen. Dernulc and other legislators during their visit to Lake County. I requested oversight of the CVA budget by the Council. Thus, I fully support SB 37 and appreciate the senators addressing this concern,” Cid said.

At this time, she said, the bill proposed by the senators has no direct impact on her position regarding a convention center.

“It is my understanding per SEA 434 authorizing the council to increase the innkeepers tax by 5%, if imposed, shall be deposited into a reserve fund that would not funnel through the CVA, thus not giving the council oversight of the spending of additional funds,” she said.

“In short, the Council’s part in this process is exclusively with the implementation of the additional Innkeepers’ Tax which the increase goes into the convention center reserve fund administered by the Convention Center Authority,” Cid said.

Councilman Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, has said he would not support increasing the innkeepers’ tax without oversight over a convention center budget. Initially the SSCVA was included in the legislation as the authority that would run the center. Slager worked to amend the legislation to create a convention center authority, removing the budget from the SSCVA purview.

Bilski said until he sees how the proposed bill is written, it does not change the dynamics of his support for a convention center. If the legislation does not address the convention center funding and something does come before the council, the body will have to make a decision about its support at that time.

Niemeyer said he does not expect the change in leadership to have any impact on the agency’s ability or desire to submit a proposal for the convention center project.

The legislation enabling the creation of the convention center was tweaked in such a way that proposals can be for any location in Lake County. While talk has centered around the Hard Rock Northern Indiana casino location, that has yet to be determined.

cnapoleon@chicagotribune.com