Dubois County Council approves tax abatements for Fischer Farms Natural Foods LLC

The Dubois County Council on Aug. 26 unanimously approved Resolution No. 2024-14 and the accompanying Statements of Benefits (SB-1 forms) for Fischer Farms Natural Foods LLC, allowing the company to receive tax deductions on new personal and real property tied to a planned investment and job creation in Jackson Township.

Diana Fischer and Heath Weyer, representing Fischer Farms Natural Foods LLC, appeared before the council to present the company's application for abatements on both personal and real property. The record shows the Dubois County Abatement Review Committee scored the personal-property application with a listed new personal-property investment of $2,600,000 and the real-property application with a listed new real-property investment of $1,700,000. The committee recorded projected new employment of 10 full-time and 3 part-time positions for the project.

Based on the committee scoring, Exhibit C in the meeting record ties the approved deduction schedules to the point totals: for personal property (SB-1/PP) the schedule listed in Exhibit C is Year 1 — 100%; Year 2 — 80%; Year 3 — 60%; Year 4 — 40%; Year 5 — 20%. For real property (SB-1/RP) Exhibit C lists a schedule beginning Year 1 — 100% and stepping down through Year 9 — 20% (100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%). The resolution text also records that the Taxpayer had requested a 10-year real-property deduction period; the council voted to approve the SB-1 forms and to apply deductions “in accordance with Exhibit C,” which is the formal attachment to the resolution.

The Abatement Review Committee point totals recorded in the meeting packet were 85 points for the personal-property submission and 93 points for the real-property submission; the packet shows point-category details including wage-level points and a 10-point score for “Use of Local Suppliers & Contractors” applied in the real-property scoring but not the personal-property scoring. The packet also lists a five-point credit for years of operation in the county and a small number of bonus points for targeted business considerations; the record does not specify the actual wage amount associated with the wage-level points.

Procedural motions recorded in the minutes show the council approved the resolution and SB-1 forms by motion: Ryan Craig moved to approve Resolution No. 2024-14 (seconded by Sonya Haas); the motion carried unanimously. The Statement of Benefits for personal property was approved on a motion by Sonya Haas, seconded by Doug Uebelhor, and the Statement of Benefits for real property was approved on a motion by Ryan Craig, seconded by Meredith Voegerl; both motions carried unanimously. The minutes from the Aug. 14, 2024 meeting were also approved (motion by Ryan Craig, seconded by Doug Uebelhor), and the meeting adjourned at 4:39 p.m.

The resolution and SB-1 approvals are effective upon passage as recorded in the meeting minutes. The record for this special meeting includes Exhibits A–C (property description, SB-1 forms and the abatement scoring/schedules). The council also announced future meeting dates and the public hearings for the 2025 budget.

Votes at a glance - Resolution No. 2024-14 (designate ERA and approve SB-1 process): motion Ryan Craig; second Sonya Haas; outcome — approved unanimously. - SB-1/PP (personal property) approval: motion Sonya Haas; second Doug Uebelhor; outcome — approved unanimously. - SB-1/RP (real property) approval: motion Ryan Craig; second Meredith Voegerl; outcome — approved unanimously.

Next steps: The abatements were approved “in accordance with Exhibit C” attached to Resolution No. 2024-14; any implementation (tax assessment adjustments, monitoring of job/wage commitments) will follow county procedures and the statute cited in the resolution (IC 6-1.1-12.1 et seq.).