The Valparaiso City Council has passed an ordinance to require projects getting city incentives to meet the same requirements that city projects do.
The "responsible business practices" ordinance would require recipients to make disclosures regarding payroll, business history, and the identities of their contractors. They'd also have to show evidence of an active apprenticeship program.
The ordinance was amended to apply only to projects requesting $350,000 or more in incentives and to offer council members some guidance when considering possible exemptions. More leeway may be given to residential developments or those with minority-, female- or veteran-owned contractors.
Still, Mayor Jon Costas worried the measure could scare away investment.
"It is untested, and the question is, what will be the effect of this ordinance. We don't know," Costas told the city council Monday.
The ordinance was reintroduced last year, amid allegations that cheaper, out-of-town labor was being used on the downtown Linc project. But Costas said he wasn't sure the Linc project would've happened at all, if the ordinance were in place, putting local jobs at risk. He would have preferred a non-binding resolution over a strict ordinance.
Costas told the Times that he hadn't decided yet whether to veto the ordinance.
But council member Emilie Hunt said developers asking for taxpayer dollars should be expected to use skilled, local labor. "It doesn't apply to every private project," Hunt noted. "You don't have to ask for taxpayer help. You don't have to ask for city assistance. You can develop your project."
Council members Peter Anderson and Diana Reed voted against the ordinance. Anderson felt residential projects should automatically be exempt, while Reed felt the requirements should only apply to the incentive amount, not private money.
"I would even be agreeable to a percentage over that incentive, but I'm not agreeable to the entirety of the project involving private monies being dictated by this ordinance," Reed said.
She noted that abatements are typically given on new tax revenue that the city isn't currently getting, rather than redirecting existing tax money to private developers.
