Every challenge brings opportunity.
And we currently have some significant opportunities before us.
As the U.S. economy transitions, communities like Bloomington have a unique opportunity to adapt and lead. Recent changes to Indiana’s state budget present significant challenges for local governments and schools, but they also underscore the importance of thoughtful planning and collaboration. By strategically growing our population, Bloomington can strengthen its workforce, support our schools and position itself for long-term success.
Our community has a long history of rising together to overcome challenges. During the pandemic, we collaborated to protect public health, while supporting neighbors and local businesses. In 2005, the region rallied to protect Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane from Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). In 1997, when Thomson Consumer Electronics closed and laid off 1,200 employees, Bloomington formed a public-private partnership to redevelop the manufacturing site. Novo Nordisk owns the facility today, after Cook Pharmica and Catalent ownership grew our life sciences industry at the site.
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This spirit of collaboration to find opportunities among challenges was evident at our April 23 community meeting. City and county leadership appeared alongside school and business representatives to discuss projected local losses stemming from the state budget legislation.
Today’s challenge is finding sustainable ways to support our local government and schools in the face of recent financial shifts. While the path forward may require creativity and collaboration, the economic development community brings valuable tools and strategies to help strengthen our fiscal foundation and invest in our future.
Our community can find success if we take three key steps to navigate this current reality:
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Land and expand new business investments.
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Grow the workforce that lives in Monroe County.
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Ensure our sites are ready for business and workforce housing development, supported by streamlined planning and permitting.
Jennifer Pearl
Driving workforce and business growth is essential to making local finances whole, meeting today’s challenges and creating tomorrow’s opportunities. The new state budget offers some property tax relief for homeowners and business personal property tax relief for smaller businesses. While nice in concept, these changes will significantly cost local government and school budgets. Local governments now have the difficult option to raise local income taxes to offset these losses.
Workforce and business growth can help because:
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New businesses ensure our community’s eggs (jobs and investment) are not all in one basket, while broadening the tax base. A diverse employment base is vital in uncertain times. We saw this during the pandemic.
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New businesses help expand the pool of contributors to local businesses and philanthropy, which can suffer in an economic downturn.
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New business investments in real estate can help lower property taxes for everyone. (Individual property tax rates = the overall tax levy divided by the assessed value. Raising the collective assessed value lowers individual property tax rates.)
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Growing our age 25-54 working population ensures replacement of retiring baby boomers. It also provides more taxpayers to share the load. Income taxes are paid where workers live and roughly 18% of our workforce lives outside of Monroe County (Source: Hoosiers by the Numbers.) So, ensuring these workers have an attainable place to live in Monroe County guarantees their income taxes stay here.
Workforce and business growth require coordination — site readiness, housing, and community promotion. The Bloomington Economic Development Corp. is leading through our work, but leadership and collaboration across the community is key.
We have great momentum to build on. In recent years, Novo Nordisk, Simtra, and PHOENIX have invested significantly in Monroe County, underscoring thriving local industry. Housing developments are advancing. Entrepreneurship is growing in the Trades District. Indiana University had a record 48,000+ students in Bloomington this past fall.
In strong economies, business and talent fuel each other — people are drawn to job opportunities, and employers are drawn to skilled workers. Together, they support schools, housing, and services that build vibrant, strong communities.
Bloomington, Ellettsville and Monroe County have the resources to succeed. The road ahead is challenging, but with focus and collaboration, we can turn today’s tools into tomorrow’s progress. We look forward to working on this together.
Jennifer Pearl is president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington workforce growth in uncertain times economic challenges Monroe County