Adding up the economic-development incentives the GE Appliances plant in Bloomington received over the last five years yields a total of more than $80 million.
The money came from various levels of government, and it took different forms. There was $75 million in federal tax credits from 2009 to 2011. Another $5 million in U.S. Department of Energy funds administered by the state of Indiana in 2010 and 2011. About $373,000 in 2011 Monroe County Westside Tax Increment Financing District money.
What all of those funds accomplished is debatable. Depending on how you view things, the $80 million purchased nothing more than 160 job cuts that GE announced last week.
Look at it another way, though, and the funding staved off layoffs for a few years, kept tax revenue higher and helped the factory continue pumping money into the local economy through workers’ wages. At the very least, the government money might have helped the plant stay open for the roughly 360 employees who will remain after layoffs and early retirements go into effect at the end of October.
It’s hard to look at the results of the incentives without knowing a little more about the funding, though. The $75 million in federal tax credits came from the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. A provision of the act offered tax credits for making energy-efficient refrigerators — and the Bloomington plant produces side-by-side refrigerators.
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