Bartholomew County commissioners signed a resolution Monday supporting a tax-abatement request from Sentry BioPharma Services and sent the proposal to the Bartholomew County Council for final consideration. The project calls for roughly $9 million in real-property improvements plus another $2.5 million in personal property investment over two years, with the company projecting its local workforce will grow to 33 employees and annual payroll will top $2.5 million by 2032.
According to The Republic News, the request marks the second phase of Sentry's investment in Bartholomew County, with the Indianapolis-based company seeking help to finish the remaining half of the speculative building after purchasing 50,000 square feet in 2022 and beginning a build-out. The building, constructed by Force Construction, sits on a 12.88-acre site that still has 7.5 acres available for future growth. Sentry plans to use the expansion for additional storage, sampling and aliquoting, along with research, development and analysis work, and intends to install insulated concrete, refrigerated loading docks and concrete cabins, investing mostly in research-and-development laboratory equipment.
A Second Phase Built on Early Results
Sentry's first phase at the industrial park, approved in 2023, allowed the company to complete part of its 50,000-square-foot facility and create at least 10 jobs. The company had projected 10 jobs and $682,000 in payroll from that earlier project, and the station's report notes Sentry ended up exceeding its wage expectations, reaching $720,000 in payroll with the 10 jobs now in place. Those positions pay average annual wages exceeding $72,000.
Phil Wagner, president of the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp., outlined the expansion plans to commissioners and read the statement of benefits before they signed the resolution. Wagner said Sentry anticipates company growth that would help it invest further in the community, and he told commissioners that national and worldwide pharmaceutical companies are expected to visit the county to see the company's product.
New Jobs, Projected Tax Payments
The expansion is expected to add 23 jobs over five years, with new positions paying an average annual salary of just over $64,000, or more than $30 an hour. That clears the bar the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp. uses to define a high-quality job, which it sets at $45,000 a year. Per the same account, the project carries a projected payback term of four to five years and is expected to generate more than $500,000 in benefits after the abatement is applied.
If the 10-year abatement is approved, Wagner said Sentry would pay about $400,000 in property taxes on the expansion alone, not counting existing property already on the books. He noted the valuation projections assume reported investment levels, standard depreciation rates, consistent tax rates, and no additional legislative changes over the decade-long phase-in. The facility's existing taxable real-property value stands at $4.24 million, with taxable personal property just over $1 million.
How Columbus Tax Abatements Work
Local tax abatements in the area allow companies to phase in net new property taxes on real and personal property over as long as 10 years, producing savings described by the Greater Columbus Indiana Economic Development as approximately 50 percent or more. Sentry's earlier 2023 project followed the same structure, phasing in its net new taxes over a decade after the company purchased the 50,000-square-foot speculative building at 13025 North Executive Drive in Edinburgh.
Sentry, led by President and CEO Tim Mitchell, provides cold-chain storage, labeling, kitting and packaging for domestic and international pharmaceutical-material distribution and serves more than 165 global pharmaceutical clients. Sentry wants to start a new client project quickly and plans to finish it by the end of its first quarter.
Water Use and Lodging Impact
Commissioners also reviewed operational details tied to the expansion, including that Sentry uses about 150 gallons of water per day and produces a comparable amount of wastewater. The company anticipates the project will generate roughly 50 to 60 hotel room nights locally, tied to visiting pharmaceutical partners and project work.
With the resolution signed, Bartholomew County commissioners forwarded the proposal to the Bartholomew County Council for final consideration at its next meeting. Similar incentive deals have surfaced elsewhere in Indiana recently — Hancock County Council approved two separate five-year abatements for Walmart equipment at its distribution center, as reported by the Daily Reporter, while Clarksville's town council recently passed its own abatement for a storage warehouse, according to the News and Tribune.
