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Manufacturing NewsTEG DailySeptember 24, 2026

September 24, 2026 · Statewide · Story 4 of 6

Indiana Industrial Property Assessments Jump 25.8%, IMA Warns of Larger Burden Shift Ahead

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Indiana's statewide assessed value of industrial property surged 25.8% in 2026 compared to 2025 (the biggest one-year jump in years) driven by two factors: genuine manufacturing expansion and data center land conversions, and a state Department of Local Government Finance administrative decision to update cost-of-construction data for the first time in four years and eliminate a long-standing downward cost-localization adjustment. Indiana Manufacturers Association President and CEO Andrew Berger warns that of the more than $1.5 billion in property tax cuts from 2025 legislation covering 2026 to 2028, more than 80% flows to homeowners, meaning the commercial and industrial base must absorb the offset as local governments hold spending steady.

Impact
The single largest structural driver of this 25.8% hit is not market value growth, it is the DLGF's elimination of a cost-localization adjustment that had suppressed Indiana's industrial appraisal base relative to national construction cost tables for years, meaning manufacturers are paying higher taxes on assets whose actual market value may not have risen commensurately. The data center buildout compounds this: Boone County recorded a 956% spike in industrial vacant property values tied to hyperscale players like AWS, and those conversions from agricultural to industrial inflate the statewide industrial AV baseline every manufacturer is measured against, even facilities nowhere near a data center campus. A bipartisan Legislative Council has directed the Fiscal Policy Committee to study the property assessment system ahead of the 2027 session, including a review of automated valuation models, which opens a narrow window for the IMA to push for a phase-in mechanism or restoration of the cost-localization adjustment before 2027 payable tax bills arrive.
Watch
Track the Indiana Legislative Council's Fiscal Policy Committee study sessions on property assessment reform scheduled ahead of the 2027 legislative session, specifically whether the committee takes up a formal review of the DLGF's elimination of the cost-localization adjustment, which is the lever most directly connected to manufacturers' exposure.
For the huddle

Indiana manufacturers are absorbing higher NIPSCO rates and a higher property tax assessment at the same time. What is the right sequence of action?

Run the outage cost calculation first, because the next storm does not wait for the legislative calendar. Then pull your 2026 Notice of Assessment and verify the methodology behind your specific increase. Engage the IMA on the Fiscal Policy Committee study while that window is open. These are parallel actions, not a sequence you can defer one item to complete the other.

From the brief, September 24, 2026

  1. NIPSCO Derecho Response Under Formal IURC Review
  2. Indiana Industrial Property Assessments Surged 25.8%: The Methodology Change Most Coverage Missed
  3. Honda's Reported Ohio Hybrid Plant Creates a Supplier Qualification Window for Indiana
  4. Indiana Industrial Property Assessments Jump 25.8%, IMA Warns of Larger Burden Shift Ahead
  5. Eli Lilly Advances Lebanon, Indiana API Plant as Part of $50B U.S. Reshoring Push
  6. Lilly Breaks Ground on $6.5B Houston API Plant, Indiana HQ Watches Where Net-New Capacity Is Landing

The whole day’s brief →

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