The $7 million incentive package Carrier Corp. will receive as part of a deal the company reached with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence represents a departure from how tax credits are typically used in Indiana.
It's also the kind of agreement Trump slammed on the campaign trail.
The furnace manufacturer will receive $5 million in tax credits over 10 years in exchange for keeping 1,069 jobs at its Indianapolis plant with an average wage of $30.91 hour. The company also will receive $1 million in training grants and up to $1 million in additional tax credits based on Carrier's planned $16 million investment in the west-side factory.
The board of the state's economic development agency must still approve the deal. As governor, Pence is chairman of the board and appoints its members.
The deal was a major early victory for the incoming presidential administration. It was also welcome news for the plant's 1,400 employees, who had been told in February that their jobs would be eliminated and the work shipped to Monterrey, Mexico.
But the deal differs from most other economic development agreements in Indiana, where incentives are usually aimed at luring jobs, not merely retaining them. In fact, about 400 workers at Carrier will still lose their jobs under the deal, as will 700 employees at a related company in Huntington.
Elizabeth Daigneau is GOVERNING's managing editor.
