Are these incentives a good deal?

Gov. Mitch Daniels dished out $6.3 million in incentives as part of Defender Directâ??s expansion announcement yesterday. But
was the carrot a good deal for us taxpayers?

Defender Direct, which sells home security and satellite dish systems, plans to add 1,100 people, many of them at its Indianapolis
headquarters and the rest elsewhere in the state.

The company promises the new jobs will pay an average of at least $18 an hour, not including benefits. Some of the jobs are
for call centers, while others are higher-level positions.

A consultant in Cleveland who wrote Ohioâ??s economic development plan thinks the incentives, which amount to about $5,700 per
job, are worth the price. â??Those are very high wages, those are very good jobs,â?? says the consultant, Don Iannone.

Iannone reminds that in Ohio a low-income job is defined as paying $9.71 an hour or less. That makes up the bottom quarter
of all jobs in Ohio. So $18 doesnâ??t sound bad to him.

What do you think? Was this incentive package priced right? Should the state have offered incentives at all?