INDIANAPOLIS — The IEDC has asked the Indiana State Budget Committee for a combined $200 million for the LEAP District in Boone County and the Stellantis/Samsung SDI battery plant project in Kokomo.
However, half of those dollars (specifically, for the plant) would come from the state’s surplus, a move that has some lawmakers calling for increased IEDC transparency.
Last year, the General Assembly allocated $500 million for the IEDC’s Deal Closing Fund. Now, the agency has asked for more money to be added to that fund through the state’s surplus, something non-voting members of the State Budget Committee said they’re reluctant to do.
”The IEDC has gotten very ambitious, [and] wants more and more money,” State Rep. Ed Delaney (D-Indianapolis) said.
Rep. DeLaney called the move a “misallocation of responsibilities and priorities,” pointing out lawmakers’ hesitancy to dip into the surplus to address a nearly $1 billion Medicaid forecasting error.
”We chose instead to put more money into this undefined project with an undefined budget,” Rep. DeLaney said.
”That transparency needs to be enhanced,” State Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) said.
Sen. Qaddoura said he’s made several requests to see ROI data for several IEDC projects, but requests up to this point have gone nowhere.
”On an individualized basis, that is confidential company financial information,” Mark Wasky, the senior vice president of the IEDC, said while addressing Sen. Qaddoura at the State Budget Committee meeting.
A motion from the only voting member of the Indiana House Democratic Caucus, State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis), to remove the IEDC budget items did not move forward.
Porter ultimately abstained from the committee’s vote, saying “This body has given the IEDC a blank check, and they continue to use it to their advantage.”
”There is a critical need to enhance that level of transparency, and I do intend on working on it with my colleagues. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue,” Sen. Qaddoura said.
This comes just days after Tippecanoe County expanded its moratorium on high-volume water exports as officials await the results of an Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) water study. The IFA said that the study is expected to be released by the end of this year.
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