The Vanderburgh County Council on a unanimous vote approved a preliminary resolution granting a seven-year tax phase-in to Procuma, a locally owned engineering and automation company proposing a new 12,000-square-foot facility at 8301 North Kentucky Avenue in Omicron Industrial Park.

Pat Hickey, of the Abenso Regional Economic Partnership (EREP), told the council Procuma’s proposed project includes a total investment of $2,325,000, retains 10 existing employees and foresees adding 12 new jobs over five years. EREP’s scoring placed the project high enough to qualify for a standard seven-year phase-in that the staff estimated would save the company about $200,000 over the seven-year term.

“The new positions will start out at $36 an hour with comprehensive benefits,” Hickey said in his presentation, adding the EREP scoring model shows the project scored 15 points and qualifies for the standard schedule.

Louis Meredith, identified in the meeting as a company partner and project manager, described Procuma’s business and hiring expectations. “We fully anticipate we’ll have to come back annually and do a report … on how we are staying in the plan,” Meredith said, acknowledging the council’s compliance and clawback mechanisms.

Council members asked several questions about timing for the 12 hires, payroll averages and how the scorecard points were calculated. Meredith said the company’s current average salary across employees is about $86,000 and that the average pay after new hires would approximate $75,000, noting that pay varies by job type (shop technicians versus degreed engineers).

A council member moved to approve the preliminary resolution as written (seven years). The council conducted a roll-call vote; Council members Iaccarino, Kiefer, Hahn, Bassmeyer, Raven, Montrastell and President Scheller each voted yes. The motion carried 7–0.

Why it matters: Tax phase-ins are intended to encourage local investment and job creation while preserving the council’s right to annual compliance reviews. Council members emphasized the importance of monitoring hires and payroll to ensure the project meets the conditions that justified the incentive.

What’s next: Procuma and EREP will follow the county’s annual compliance review process. If required by the phase-in agreement, the county may use clawback provisions or adjust benefits if the company does not meet the terms of the approved schedule.