Indiana

Lilly Payback

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

I don’t have much use for Gary Welsh, but sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut, or vice versa.

Eli Lilly announced more than 5,000 layoffs Monday, many of which will impact the Indianapolis area.   If Lilly goes forward with the job reductions will it have to payback some of the money it received in tax incentives over the years which were predicated on job creation?

From today’s Star…

From 1999 to 2004, the expansion added about 9,000 new Lilly jobs in Indianapolis and secured more work for the company’s 7,000 vendors in the state.

Since 2004, Lilly has shed 2,000 jobs and never reached the target of adding 9,500 new jobs in Indianapolis by 2009. That target was set in 2004 when Lilly applied for tax breaks and incentives totaling $1.6 billion in exchange for its expansion.

Scaling back now has little to do with the recession. [John] Lechleiter said the restructuring would have happened anyway, to speed up the pipeline, which has sputtered in recent years.

I have no desire to kick a major employer when they’re going through issues, but it is a fair question to ask, especially during these tough financial times.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on September 15, 2009 (boomark / email).