Has our county engaged the state's nuclear readiness toolkit yet, or are we already behind communities talking to developers?

If your county hasn't started on the OED application process, First American Nuclear and Indiana Michigan Power are already in discussions with communities that have, and the top designation tier requires a signed agreement with one of those two developers.

Have we modeled our 2027 property tax bill against the state's new industrial cost tables, given the 25.8% jump in industrial assessed value?

DLGF's recalibrated cost tables carry trend factors up to 130% higher than before, and that recalibration is still moving through county assessments, so a formal appeal through your county assessor or a provider like JM Tax Advocates is worth budgeting for now rather than after the bill arrives.

If we're on NIPSCO's system, do we know how much of today's rate pressure comes from keeping the Schahfer coal units running versus what's coming from the gas-plant conversion?

NIPSCO is already seeking to recover over $100 million tied to the current federal order, and that's separate from the capital costs of the planned gas conversion, which are likely to show up on your bill starting in 2027 or 2028.

Would our hiring process accept IDOC-certified welders and CNC operators as a pipeline into open skilled-trades positions?

Worth checking directly, since Ivy Tech's IDOC programs are already producing welding and CNC credentials, and most reentry placement support is concentrated around Indianapolis, so plants outside that metro may need to make the first call themselves.

Manufacturing News TEG Daily

October 8, 2026 · Jasper · Warrick · NIPSCO · IM AEP

Indiana Industrial Property Tax Increase Hits 25.8% as Nuclear Ready Program Opens and NIPSCO's Schahfer Fight Escalates

Indiana industrial assessed values jumped 25.8% in 2026. See what that means for your 2027 tax bill, plus NIPSCO, nuclear, and workforce news.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Indiana's industrial property tax increase for 2027 is already locked in by a 25.8% jump in industrial assessed value for 2026, the sharpest one-year increase of any property class in the state, well ahead of the 9.7% statewide average. That number lands the same week Indiana opened applications for counties chasing nuclear development dollars and a Northwest Indiana congressman introduced a bill aimed at the federal orders keeping NIPSCO's coal units running past retirement. None of these three stories are small, and a fourth, on workforce pipelines out of the Indiana Department of Correction, deserves a spot at your table too.

01Statewide

Indiana Opens Nuclear Ready Communities Program Without the Money Texas and Tennessee Put Up

The Indiana Office of Energy Development opened online applications this week for the Advanced Nuclear Ready Communities Program, letting any county, city or township apply for one of three tiered designations tied to small modular reactor readiness. Any Indiana county can apply through the state's AccessGov portal, and the program offers a toolkit, templates and a Nuclear 101 presentation rather than direct funding. Texas backs its advanced nuclear push with $350 million.

Impact: Indiana's toolkit-and-badge approach is notably lighter than competitors: Texas backs its advanced nuclear push with a $350 million fund, Tennessee with $70 million, and Wyoming already has an NRC construction permit in hand for TerraPower's Natrium reactor, meaning Indiana communities will be benchmarked against states with real capital, not just a Nuclear 101 PowerPoint. The timing isn't accidental: Indiana became the 41st NRC Agreement State on Sept. 24, giving OED real regulatory authority to point to, and named developers First American Nuclear ($4B/5,000-job commitment) and Indiana Michigan Power (DOE funding application for a GE Hitachi reactor at Rockport) are already circling sites before a single community earns a designation.
Watch: Whether any Indiana county reaches Tier 3 by landing a 'formal agreement with a developer', the structural requirement that currently only FANCO or I&M/GE Hitachi can satisfy.
For the huddle: Has our county or region engaged OED's toolkit yet, and if not, are we ceding first-mover advantage to communities already in talks with FANCO or I&M for a reactor site?

SourcesApplications available for Indiana’s Advanced Nuclear Ready Communities Program (readthereporter.com)

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02Statewide

Indiana Industrial Property Tax Increase Hits 25.8%, IMA Warns of Bigger Burden Ahead

Indiana Manufacturers Association President and CEO Andrew Berger published a warning in late September that industrial assessed value rose 25.8% statewide for 2026, compared with 7.3% for residential and 15.0% for commercial. Berger attributes part of the jump to DLGF's first update to construction cost tables in four years, factoring in four years of labor and materials inflation at once. More than a billion and a half doollars in property tax cuts enacted through 2028 target more than 80% of the relief to homeowners, and Berger argues that gap gets redistributed onto commercial and industrial owners when local budgets don't shrink to match.

Impact: The op-ed likely understates the real exposure: DLGF's 2026 cost-table recalibration includes light manufacturing trend factors up to 130% above prior schedules, layered on top of the 25.8% jump Berger is already flagging, and SB 1's one-year levy freeze expires in 2027, when 1%-2% levy growth caps kick in without the buffer that softened 2026. IMA's own preferred-provider arrangement with JM Tax Advocates signals the association expects members to fight this county-by-county through appeals rather than win a clean legislative fix, a costly route that disadvantages smaller manufacturers.
Watch: The 2026 legislative session, where additional homeowner property tax relief is expected to be debated against IMA's push to rebalance the industrial burden.
For the huddle: Have we modeled our 2027 property tax bill against DLGF's new cost tables, and should we be budgeting now for a formal assessment appeal through our county assessor or a provider like JM Tax Advocates?

SourcesAndrew Berger: Assessed value increases hitting businesses, too (dailyjournal.net)

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03Jasper · Warrick

Rep. Mrvan Targets DOE Orders Keeping NIPSCO's Schahfer Coal Units Online in Wheatfield

U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-Highland) introduced H.R. 10687 on October 2, aimed at the Department of Energy's use of emergency authority to keep NIPSCO's Units 17 and 18 at the Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, Jasper County, and CenterPoint Energy's Unit 2 at the Culley plant in Warrick County running past their 2025 retirement dates. The current order runs through December 18. NIPSCO is separately seeking to recover more than $100 million in costs tied to the order, a claim the Citizens Action Coalition's Kerwin Olson calls illegal.

Impact: The orders were issued just seven days after a D.C. Circuit panel vacated a parallel DOE order for Michigan's J.H. Campbell plant, ruling DOE lacked 202(c) authority absent a genuine emergency, meaning Indiana's orders and NIPSCO's cost-recovery case now carry heightened legal risk of clawback. Compounding the irony: IURC filings show Schahfer's units are actually broken and offline for turbine and boiler maintenance even while under the federal 'must-run' mandate, and the lingering order is delaying NIPSCO's own $7 billion gas-and-storage conversion of the Schahfer site meant to serve the $15 billion Amazon Web Services data center buildout in Hobart.
Watch: Whether DOE issues a fifth round of 202(c) orders before the Dec. 18 expiration, and how FERC/IURC rule on NIPSCO's $100M+ cost-recovery request given the post-Campbell legal exposure.
For the huddle: If we're on NIPSCO's system, have we separated how much of our current rate pressure comes from Schahfer compliance costs today versus the gas-plant capital recovery charges likely to arrive in 2027-2028?

SourcesU.S. Rep. Mrvan introduces legislation against federal power plant orders (chicagotribune.com)

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04Statewide

Braun Touts IDOC Vocational Training as 3,200 Inmates Earn Manufacturing Certifications

Gov. Mike Braun's office announced October 6 that more than 3,200 inmates enrolled in vocational programs in 2025, earning 2,070 certifications through Ivy Tech's programming inside 13 Indiana Department of Correction facilities, including MSSC Certified Production Technician, welding and CNC operator credentials. Conexus Indiana projects 178,000 new manufacturing and logistics jobs statewide by 2033, with 85,000 likely to go unfilled without pipelines like this one. One detail the governor's release skipped: Ivy Tech's out-custody welding program runs 80 clock hours and its CNC machining program runs 140, both at or below the 150-hour minimum that took effect July 1 for Workforce Pell Grant eligibility.

Impact: The program's biggest structural risk went unmentioned in the governor's release: Ivy Tech's out-custody welding (80 clock hours) and CNC machining (140 clock hours) programs sit at or below the new 150-hour minimum for Workforce Pell Grant eligibility that activated July 1, meaning the state's highest-demand manufacturing credentials may not qualify for the federal funding SEA 254's Ivy Tech reform was designed to capture. That's a real gap given Conexus Indiana's projection of 178,000 new manufacturing and logistics jobs by 2033, with 85,000 likely to go unfilled without pipelines like this one working at scale.
Watch: Whether IDOC and Ivy Tech restructure clock-hour requirements for welding and CNC programs to clear the 150-hour Workforce Pell threshold.
For the huddle: Have we reviewed whether our hiring process is 'felony-friendly' enough to absorb IDOC-certified welders and CNC operators, particularly if our plant is outside the Indianapolis metro where most reentry placement support is currently concentrated?

SourcesIndiana Gov. Braun advances workforce preparation for incarcerated Hoosiers (giant.fm)

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