While Indiana Economic Development Corp. President Michael Maurer understands the need for open records when he's making deals with taxpayer money, he bemoans it.
"(Releasing deal information) creates a handicap for the state," Maurer said. He said every incentive package deal is "subject to a lot of compromise and negotiations."
When those details get printed in the paper, every subsequent company wants to start negotiations from that point or better, Maurer said.
"The way it is today, we can never get a better deal than the last deal because everybody knows what we've already compromised for," he said. "If we were in private business, those details would never be disclosed and we'd have an opportunity to negotiate a better deal."
When the Evansville Courier & Press requested a list of all finalized state incentive package offers, the IEDC turned over a list with 116 projects.
Five projects, including one in Vanderburgh County, did not include a company name. That project is slated to create 150 new jobs with an overall $36 million price tag and $2.7 million in state aid committed.
The law creating the IEDC requires the corporation to release the "terms of the final offer of public financial resources communicated by the corporation to an industrial, a research, or a commercial prospect."
Maurer said the state's offers to the five unnamed companies are final, but the project is not complete because the companies do not have signatures or other "little details."
Asked whether the names of the companies should be released because the state's offers are final, he said: "I hope not because if we released them before the company got board approval, they may not even want to negotiate with us."