IEDC Approves Carrier's $7M Tax Incentives Deal

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation has approved $7 million in tax incentives for the Carrier company to keep about a thousand jobs in Indianapolis.

Carrier first accepted the deal last fall under public pressure from President Donald Trump. But this is not the incentives’ final hurdle – they also need a public hearing in the state legislature later this year.

That’s because they hinge on job retention, not creation, which makes them a rare case.

State Commerce Secretary Jim Schellinger says the IEDC took that route because it was so clear Carrier wasn’t making an empty threat. But he says that hasn’t set a precedent for other companies to make similar demands.

“We look at every single deal individually,” he says. “We have to have really hard evidence that the retention is needed, because if not, every company would threaten to leave.”

Carrier is getting $5 million in tax credits to keep 1,069 total jobs in Indianapolis. Slightly more than 700 of those were truly on the chopping block. The deal also includes $2 million to get the appliance-maker to train workers and invest $16 million in its Indianapolis operations.

The deal is expected to pay for itself in about a year. It doesn’t affect about $1.5 million in incentives the state and the city of Indianapolis already revoked from Carrier after the layoffs were initially announced a year ago.

This deal also won’t spare at least 1,200 Carrier workers from layoffs in Indianapolis and Huntington, beginning this year. And Schellinger says there is no deal for about 300 Indianapolis Rexnord workers, who are facing a similar cut.

One IEDC member, Bob Koch of Koch Industries, does business with Carrier and recused himself from voting Tuesday.

This story has been updated.