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Monroe County grants $82K tax break for defense contractor's expansion

WFIU | By Eddie Stewart

Published July 21, 2026 at 4:16 PM EDT

Two men sitting at a table behind tall mics. The man to the left is wearing a green jacket and glasses, and the man to the right is wearing a light orange dress shirt and light orange tie. — Doug McDaniel (right) is the president and co-founder of Scientia LLC, the company receiving a tax break from the Monroe County Council.

Monroe County has granted a ten-year tax break to a defense contractor based in Bloomington.

The Monroe County Council voted unanimously last week to approve a tax abatement for defense contractor Scientia LLC.

The company hopes to use the tax savings to expand its office building and add 30 jobs. Scientia currently has 40 employees and a payroll of $4.2 million. It plans to hire an additional 30 employees at $2.3 million.

Scientia’s website describes the company as a “cutting-edge engineering, software development, and cybersecurity company.”

Scientia president and co-founder Doug McDaniel said the tax break will keep the company in Monroe County.

“This will help make a viable project out of this, and we've got all our fingers and toes crossed that we will be able to achieve the growth that we're looking at,” McDaniel said.

County Attorney Jeff Cockerill previously put the value of the tax break at around $82,000 total over 10 years.