Indiana Regional Cities Committee Outlines Three-Part Recommendation for Funding

Committee to present to IEDC Board for approval at 2 p.m.

Indianapolis – In a report released today, the Indiana Regional Cities Strategic Review Committee outlines three recommendations, which, pending legislative approval, includes full funding of three regional development plans – North Central, Northeast and Southwest Indiana – at $42 million each in state matching funds.  This first recommendation calls for full funding of three regions, instead of two as originally planned, based on the financial success of Governor Pence’s 2015 Tax Amnesty Program, which was primarily created to fund the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative. According to the Indiana Department of Revenue, the program has already collected $137.6 million, with taxpayers agreeing to pay another $21.6 million via payment plans. Additionally, the report recommends that the state and the IEDC continue to support the regional development plans of Central, East Central, Northwest and West Central Indiana due to unprecedented levels of regional activity and collaboration sparked statewide by the initiative. In the report, the Strategic Review Committee identifies the three regions recommended for full funding as Phase I and the four remaining regions as Phase II. While classified as Phase I and Phase II, the recommendations are meant to be carried out concurrently.  The Strategic Review Committee’s three recommendations outlined in the report, which is now available online, are as follows:

• Recommendation No. 1: Seek any necessary approvals to allocate all Tax Amnesty Program revenues in excess of $90 million to the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative.

• Recommendation No. 2: Subject to any necessary approvals for Tax Amnesty funds, award all three Phase I regional development plans (North Central, Northeast and Southwest) $42 million each.

• Recommendation No. 3: Continued support of the four Phase II regional development plans (Central, East Central, Northwest and West Central). This support may include assistance in identifying public or private funds for planning in order to encourage and enable the continued development of their regional plans. The amounts of any planning funds would be determined based on availability.

The Strategic Review Committee will vote to adopt this report today during the committee’s final meeting. At 2 p.m., the Strategic Review Committee will present its recommendations for approval to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) Board of Directors and Board Chairman Governor Mike Pence. Both meetings are being held at the Ivy Tech Corporate College and Culinary Center (2820 N. Meridian St.) in Indianapolis. The report also recommends that the state consider continued funding for the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative in future state budget cycles beginning in 2017 based on the impressive and visionary regional development plans and unprecedented collaboration that has occurred in each of the seven regions.