INDIANAPOLIS | Gov. Mitch Daniels and his economic development crew capped off another banner year for job creation in typical fashion Friday: by celebrating a huge investment nowhere near Northwest Indiana.
LHP Inc., a software developer based in Columbus, Ind., announced an expansion that will more than double the company's 130-person work force. The project, which garnered $2.1 million in state tax credits, helped the Indiana Economic Development Corp. surpass its 2006 job-creation mark.
"Indiana has broken yet again the all-time record for most new jobs captured in competitive settings," Daniels said. "I honestly didn't think the '06 records could be broken."
The state agency inked 158 deals in 2007, pledging $196 million in state incentives to create 22,627 news jobs. But the region -- Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties -- landed only seven projects and 673 news jobs. That translates to less than 3 percent of the economic development pie for an area home to 12 percent of the state population.
And this year wasn't an anomaly. Since its creation in 2005, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has helped broker 486 agreements to create more than 60,000 jobs. But those "record-breaking" results include only a dozen deals to bring 1,058 jobs to Lake and Porter counties.
"There are a lot of factors that go into a company's decision (of where to locate)," said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Nathan Feltman. "Certainly some parts of our state have seen tremendous growth, and today we're celebrating southeast Indiana."
Daniels said regional cooperation and low property taxes are key to attracting the large-scale investments that have mostly bypassed Northwest Indiana.
"Keeping the cost of government down and making sure government has the integrity that inspires confidence -- and then taking a pro-growth, pro-jobs attitude -- are the keys, " Daniels said. "I think that's what separates the star areas, and currently southeast Indiana is one of those, from some others."
The top 2007 job deals for the region were ArcelorMittal's commitment to a $30-million expansion that will create 230 jobs in Gary and Plasmatronics' plan to bring 221 manufacturing jobs to a new facility in Crown Point. Porter County didn't snare any state incentive deals this year, though three firms pledged to create 115 jobs in LaPorte County.
Last year's win list included 165 jobs at the new Cabela's outdoor mega store in Hammond and 74 jobs in limbo until the BP Whiting Refinery determines whether to move ahead with a $3.8-billion expansion stalled by environmental protests.
