Regional Cities study finds area application second to last in net present value

Staff at the Indiana Economic Development Corp. - in consultation with the Indiana Business Research Center - performed a return on investment analysis for all seven applications.

The inputs focused on tax base growth and jobs created.

The initial draft of the document showed northeast Indiana second-to-last in terms of net present value at $34 million. Only the west central Indiana proposal was worse at negative $11 million. The best was north central Indiana at $161 million.

Net present value is used in capital budgeting to analyze the profitability of a projected investment or project. Generally the higher the number the better the expected investment.

Committee member Mitch Roob seemed surprised by the low number but there was no other specific discussion on the northeast proposal.

IEDC Spokeswoman Abby Gras said the analysis is not meant to be a deciding factor for state funding recommendations, it is merely one of several tools provided to the Strategic Review Committee for review. They are also still seeking information that could alter the numbers.

One reason for the low value is likely that northeast Indiana focused a lot on so-called quality of place investments meant to attract millennials to the area for future population growth.