Comments on Advance Indiana™: Ballard Administration Now Claims City May Have Lost Rolls-Royce If It Wasn't Offered Tax Breaks For Not Creating Jobs

All of these WAR contractors depend on illegal war...

2011-04-03T12:42:17.388-05:00

All of these WAR contractors depend on illegal wars to continue operating; sucking money and lives out of our country and hurting its long-term viability. To even consider WAR jobs part of economic development is actually ludicrous. Building stuff they we don't need to destroy other people's lives and employing people to build things we don't need is, at a minimum, a mis-allocation of resources; at worst, it is criminal. Encouraging more of the same destroys the economy; it does not enhance it. And providing incentives to move such an industry down the street to help fund the downtown Ponzi scheme in the name of economic development just amplifies the need to have a discussion about what constitutes real economic development instead of the phony economic development touted by our thieving leaders as the real thing.

Maybe Ballard is setting up his retirement job wit...

2011-04-02T21:17:26.803-05:00

Maybe Ballard is setting up his retirement job with RR just like Peterson did with Lilly's? They are defense contractors and he is retired USMC officer. Also, the plane was not cancelled, they were just told to stop work on the backup engine pending cost cuts. One particular variance is going strong.

It will take an awful lot of $10 lunches to recoup...

2011-04-02T20:52:33.669-05:00

It will take an awful lot of $10 lunches to recoup those tens of millions in tax abatements.

Pat, Unless I'm totally stupid and can't r...

2011-04-02T19:44:09.710-05:00

Pat, Unless I'm totally stupid and can't read, the IBJ article makes clear the abatement agreement is a done deal. "The City plans to provide tax breaks in both deals. Rolls-Royce will get a 10-year, $1.2 million abatement to occupy the Faris campus . . . The $190 million Tibbs facility will come with a 10-year, $21 million tax abatement." If the city says it's giving them the tax abatement, it's a done deal. There is no entity to block it, Pat. When these deals are announced, they're carried out. End of story.

Gary, I certainly can't say who greased what s...

2011-04-02T19:01:52.654-05:00

Gary, I certainly can't say who greased what skids on this or any abatement. We are all sort of spitting in the wind on this one, since no abatement has been applied for and no hard documents exist - so relevant clawback clauses cannot be examined for appropriateness.

Even if this supposed deal was tainted just as you say, it begs the question of when an abatement should be granted.

This is an important public policy question, even if this administration is crooked. What of the next administration and the one after that?

Should we ever give an abatement? If so, for what? Those are important questions that the Rolls Royce abatements bring up, as far as I'm concerned.

Whether it requires council approval or not is irr...

2011-04-02T18:46:19.305-05:00

Whether it requires council approval or not is irrelevant since this particular council only rubber stamps what the Ballard administration sends before it. You missed my point about it being all about pay to play politics, Pat. Monarch Beverage passes out a lot of campaign contributions to the politicians locally. No need to prove economic development to win favored tax status in this city. Stuff money in the right people's pockets and you get pretty much whatever you want.

As it was explained to me, Rolls Royce has not app...

2011-04-02T17:43:00.830-05:00

As it was explained to me, Rolls Royce has not applied for either abatement, yet. So, I'm not sure why the City is making hay with this anyway. The 10 year clock would not start until that process was completed. I believe the Ferris building abatement would have to go through the Council and not just the MDC - it certainly would have to if it is within the downtown TIF area (I'm having trouble locating the TIF map on my computer and I just don't remember).

You are right, that the stop work order has been issued. I have no idea what Rolls Royce's situation is if that plane remains cancelled. That could have far more impact on the company's plans than any hoped for abatement. This seems very significant, from the outside looking in.

If the stop work order does not impact the company's Tibbs Street plants that much, then updating the plant can only be good news. That being, it is better to have the company's most modern plants in Indy, rather than its most outdated.

Others certainly can come to a different conclusion than I did - again given the information provided to me. I do have to say that at least one other abatement has been granted with an actual reduction in jobs - the move of Monarch Beverage from Decatur to Lawrence Township a couple of years ago. I was led to believe back then, that investment alone with no promise of additional jobs was not unheard of.

All that said, I do believe it is in the best interest of the public that the underlying public policy be discussed and some common agreement reached. How many jobs, how much new investment, or what combination of the two should warrant a tax abatement. As things stand now, there is no real transparency to the process, and that deserves to change.

They are doing their jobs. Republicans' purpos...

2011-04-02T17:40:46.608-05:00

They are doing their jobs. Republicans' purpose is to enrich corporations and to pass laws limiting freedom.

Republicans will be happy when we're all living in company towns, again.

When are the so called republicans on the council ...

2011-04-02T15:11:03.894-05:00

When are the so called republicans on the council ever going to look farther than the freebies they get and start DOING THEIR JOBS?