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Wabash Valley Foods update: commissioners approve company as compliant while staff await final cost segregation
Summary
Company representatives told Dubois County commissioners the Wabash Valley Foods plant is shipping product, that expenditures have exceeded early estimates in some categories, and that commissioners voted to find the company's abatement filing in compliance.
Representatives of Wabash Valley Foods (presented as the Wabash Valley Foods/cooked eggplant project) updated Dubois County commissioners on production status, project costs and employment figures, and commissioners voted to find the company in compliance for the current abatement filings.
Grant Knees, vice president of finance, and Andy Seger, chief financial officer, reported the plant had been shipping commercial product since early February, that the project remains phased, and that production had not yet fully ramped. They said expenditures through the end of 2024 had shifted the allocation of costs between personal property (equipment, fixtures) and real property (building, site work) and that a third-party cost segregation study has been commissioned to finalize how costs will be capitalized.
Knees and Seger told commissioners the company had hired more employees during 2025 than originally estimated; the presenters said the number of employees had increased above the estimate used in earlier filings and that salaries and payroll costs for the first full year of ramp-up will be higher than projected. Company representatives asked commissioners to accept the CF-1 filing material as in compliance so county abatement staff can proceed with the process.
Commission action: Commissioner Meredith moved to find the filing in compliance; Commissioner Brian seconded. The board voted by voice and the motion passed with all voting "aye." No recorded nays or abstentions were indicated in the meeting record.
Why it matters: The company said the final tax effect for county levies will depend on the cost segregation report and on how construction and equipment costs are classified between personal and real property; commissioners approved the company's compliance filing so county staff can process the abatement paperwork and continue monitoring project closeout.
Ending: Company representatives said they would provide updated figures once the cost segregation study and year-end accounting are complete and will return with a final closeout report when the project accounting is closed.
