DE SOTO, Kan. — De Soto has already seen some of the results of taxpayers' investment in Panasonic in and around the community.
Now that the battery facility is open, KSHB 41's Alyssa Jackson is tracking some of the projections made in 2022 when the deal was officially announced.
In February, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said, "I made sure we would get a really good return on our investment".
Wichita State University's Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) calculated what that return could be with a study in 2022, based on data provided by Panasonic Energy.
At the time, researchers estimated that with every dollar spent, the Kansas economy would gain $26.06.
The total impact in 10 years was projected to be over $32 billion. In that same time frame, the facility would cost taxpayers more than $853 million.
Bekah Selby-Leach, who currently leads economic research at Wichita State University, explained whether the investment was balanced.
“I still think that millions of dollars of economic benefit is very reasonable for a business this size," she said. "It does seem like a lot, but you have to remember that every dollar that's spent gets cycled again and again throughout the economy.”
She did not author the study.
However, she said, now that three years have passed since the original report, there are more aspects to consider.
Selby-Leach said: “I have seen some discussion in the news that companies like Panasonic and other battery companies are kinda scaling back right now in terms of their employment because of changing demand for things like electric vehicles, so their plans have changed, and so the results here will be kind of viewed as best case scenario.”
Selby-Leach said that if she had authored the study, she would have used less definitive language since projections aren't definitive.
According to her, there are ways for the community to track how beneficial the investment is over time.
“You're definitely going to want to keep track of employment. How many people is this business employing? How much are they making in terms of revenue and sales? You also want to see if you can identify incoming people from outside Kansas. Did this job attract new residents into the community?” she said.
Panasonic's grand opening means the company will start making money from batteries coming off production lines.
With all production lines not expected to be in full operation until next year, the facility may not be able to fully show significant results just yet.
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KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including Overland Park, Prairie Village and Leawood. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
