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BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a statement on the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis’ report showing massive investment in local government due to ITEP reform.

Gov. Edwards said:

“Giving local governments a say in whether their property taxes are exempted was simply the right thing to do. But this report proves what we said all along when we reshaped ITEP to become a jobs program. We have increased funding for local governments, public schools, and law enforcement by more than $750 million. And we’ve done it all while more than doubling the number and value of ITEP projects in Louisiana compared to the 2012-2016 gubernatorial term, from $50 billion in investment over four years to more than $100 billion. Last year alone, our ITEP reforms resulted in $113 million in additional revenue for schools, $55 million for local law enforcement and $115 million for other local government needs. Those numbers are expected to rise with new projects on the horizon that will generate even more revenue for these essential services and create even more jobs. Make no mistake: anyone who says they want to undo our ITEP reform is really saying they want to defund local governments, defund schools, and defund the police.”

Read the report here.