Kokomo will propose incentives to Delphi to expand local operations

McKillip, who traveled to Indianapolis to present the local incentive package to state officials Friday, released no details of the proposal.

He said he expects state officials and appointees of Gov. Mitch Daniels to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to review the proposal over the weekend.

"Until we present it to Delphi, which is going to be early next week, we can't say much about it," McKillip said. "The plan is to merge the state's information and ours over the weekend and be prepared early next week to present it to Steve Miller, either in Detroit, Indianapolis or Kokomo -- whatever Delphi decides."

Movement on an incentive package began a few days before Delphi's Oct. 8 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, McKillip said. Over the past two days, the city's director of development, Jason Hester, and Greg Aaron, president of the Kokomo Howard County Development Corp., worked together to finalize the plan, he said.

Early in his tenure, McKillip said his administration put a strategic plan in place, actions which could be taken if the city was threatened with the loss or downsizing of one of its two "mega-employers" -- Delphi Electronics & Safety and DaimlerChrysler Corp.

Together, the companies comprise more than one-third of the Kokomo area's workforce.

Delphi employs around 5,500 in Kokomo.

"They pump more than $500 million in salaries into the economy every year." McKillip said of Delphi. "That means every business in Kokomo is affected by the money Delphi pours in."

McKillip paraphrased Daniels' earlier statements on how Indiana must capitalize on a Delphi restructuring.

"We're not going into this with the state of mind we're going to minimize our losses," McKillip said. "We're trying to see what can be gained here."

©2005 The Kokomo Tribune.