By Paul Minnis, The Republic Reporter

The $50 million in incentives that enticed Cummins Inc. to produce its new diesel engines in Columbus promises a mix of skill-building education and tax credits.

Officials said the city, county and state will win, with as many as 800 high-paying jobs created, new tax revenue and the evolution of a work force already skilled in manufacturing.

All $30 million worth of state incentives are guaranteed and require no further governmental action.

The remaining $17 million in abated property taxes the city promised must get City Council's approval before it can be official.

Mayor Fred Armstrong said that approval is a formality. He said the tax-abatement program was created to attract manufacturing businesses such as Cummins.

"It's the perfect fit," Armstrong said. "I know the council and the Redevelopment Commission are fully supportive of this plan."

Abatements phase in property taxes over a set number of years.

Because the new manufacturing site at Cummins Plant 1 is in a Tax-Increment Financing District, the city Redevelopment Commission has power to approve or reject abatement requests.

Whatever passes the Redevelopment Commission goes to the City Council for final approval. Rejected abatements die and never reach the City Council.

But the approximate $30 million in state incentives provided the most significant piece that sealed the deal for Cummins' decision to reinvest in Columbus.

IEDC incentives

Indiana Economic Development Corp. is giving up to $191,500 in training reimbursement grants, up to $4.6 million in payroll tax credits and $1 million in off-site infrastructure assistance.

Weston Sedgwick, IEDC's media relations director, said the training grants will go to Cummins to replace whatever money it spends on employee training.

He said those grants generally are available to companies via application. Cummins must apply like any other company as a formality, but the money is guaranteed.

Payroll tax credits, formally called EDGE credits, are paid by companies based on their employee numbers. Sedgwick said Cummins' share would be waived.

The grant for off-site infrastructure improvements would go to the Columbus government but would have to be used to help Cummins.

DWD incentives

Indiana Department of Workforce Development is giving $3.5 million from its Strategic Skills Initiative, a state program that identified skill shortages throughout the state.

Joe DiLaura, DWD's press secretary, said Bartholomew County, which is in Region 9, is short on advanced manufacturing training and healthcare training.

Bartholomew County got a $975,000 share of the $15 million given across the state to develop plans to fix those shortcomings.

However, because of Cummins, the county got an additional $2 million to help generate interest in advanced manufacturing across the state and about $1.5 million to help area educational facilities expand or create advanced manufacturing curricula.

The incentives would benefit the entire community, DiLaura said.

Out of the $2 million for publicity in advanced manufacturing, $50,000 will go to Ivy Tech Community College to cover the startup costs for "Dream It. Do It."

The partnership will focus on recruiting students to consider the benefits of careers in manufacturing and providing them with the training needed for success in today's manufacturing industry.

Ivy Tech will partner with the C4 Columbus Area Career Center high school program for seminars and informational fairs to spread the word about manufacturing.

DWD also has offered Cummins assistance in recruiting, assessing and selecting employees, including providing the company with up to five WorkKeys job profiles.

WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system that measures skills critical to job success, DiLaura said.

Job profiling offers a concrete way for businesses to analyze the skills needed for specific jobs and to describe those needs to job applicants, students and educators, according to the DWD.
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