The Merrillville Redevelopment Commission on Nov. 25 approved a $19.7 million spending plan for 2026, unanimously passed a budget transfer to cover a community center lease and scheduled a workshop to review the commission's history of tax abatements.

Bob Swentz of the London Whitty Group, who prepared the spending-plan disclosure required by 2024 state legislation to be filed with the Department of Local Government Finance, told the commission, "It says that you'll spend $19,700,000 in the year 2026." Swentz said the plan follows the commission's adopted budget and debt-service schedule and that, if approved, the document would be uploaded to the DLGF Gateway to meet the Dec. 1 filing timeline.

Commissioners raised no substantive questions before a motion to approve the plan was moved and seconded and carried by roll call 5-0. The roll call record showed affirmative votes from Commissioner Shauna Haines Edwards, Commissioner Leona Chandler Felton, Commissioner Margaret Uzelac, Commissioner Keisha Hardaway and President Sean Peddick.

Swentz also reviewed the statutorily prompted "impact of taxing units" report, which summarizes the allocation-area budget and the report's effect on local taxing units such as counties, school districts, township trustees and special districts. He said the enabling legislation offered limited guidance on required content and that affected units are notified but seldom attend the presentation. Staff confirmed notices had been sent; no additional action or DLGF filing was required for that report.

Later on the agenda the commission considered Resolution RDC 25-20, described in the meeting materials as a transfer within the RDC budget to cover community center VCRA lease payments. The agenda packet listed the total decrease as $395,072.74 taken from the Merrillville Road allocation-area TIF, with an equal increase to the lease fund (net zero). A staff speaker described the transfer as a routine cash-flow measure permissible because allocation areas were consolidated; in the discussion that speaker also referred to the decrease as $390,072.74 while describing the cash-flow timing.

Commissioner Uzelac moved to approve Resolution 25-20; Commissioner Leona Chandler Felton seconded. The motion passed by roll call with all members recorded as voting in the affirmative.

The commission also agreed to hold a redevelopment-commission workshop to review a report on past tax abatements. Commissioners asked staff to invite two nonmembers of the RDC and set the session for Dec. 9 at 6:00 p.m.

The meeting concluded with an adjournment after routine closing remarks.

Provenance: The spending-plan presentation and related discussion appear in the meeting transcript beginning with the announcement of Bob Swentz's presence and his remarks on the spending plan; the vote in favor of the spending plan was recorded later in the transcript. The impact report discussion, the resolution introducing an intra-budget transfer (RDC 25-20) and its subsequent roll-call approval and the scheduling of the Dec. 9 workshop are all recorded in the transcript.

Next steps: staff will upload the approved spending plan to the DLGF Gateway to meet the Dec. 1 filing date and will circulate details for the Dec. 9 workshop.