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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Like the auto industry, the computer programming field and the customer-service business, the state of Indiana is outsourcing.
In the two years since Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels took office, the state has leased the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road to an outside company for the next 75 years for $3.8 billion, hired vendors for $1.16 billion over 10 years to process welfare applications, and brought in a company to serve food at a mental hospital. And now Daniels wants to lease the Indiana lottery for at least $1 billion over 30 years and put the money toward education.
Daniels is leading the way among cash-strapped governors who are contracting out services states historically have handled themselves. The primary goal of these deals: saving tax dollars, or generating quick cash that can be used to fix roads, reduce debt or provide college scholarships.
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