Daily Journal: State’s big, bold LEAP District play draws some reflection
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. and Lebanon officials have agreed to give Eli Lilly and Co. $1.8 billion in incentives, the largest in state history. Notably, the deal comes with land the state already bought and prepared.
From the story:
“Kasia Tarczynska is a senior research analyst for Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Good Jobs First, which tracks and is generally critical of corporate subsidies. She said that while her organization has concerns about states using public money to attract big companies, the IEDC’s approach of buying land and then selling it for development could prove beneficial.
She added that companies presented with a choice between land that’s ready to go for development or receiving a subsidy will often pick the former because it requires less upfront investment on expenses that can’t be recouped.
‘A company would rather come to a place where they can start building right away, where they don’t have to wait. The speed matters,’ Tarczynska said. ‘They would rather go there and not get subsidies than get subsidies and have to wait for a year to start construction or investment. So these sites are a big factor.’
In the case of LEAP, however, the state is doing both. The IEDC and Lebanon officials have collectively pledged nearly $1.8 billion for incentive packages, relying in part on tools created by the Indiana General Assembly in recent years at the agency’s behest.”
In 2023, Lilly’s CEO David Ricks earned a compensation package of $26.6 million in 2023 and the company had revenues of $34.1 billion.
Read the full story at the Daily Journal.