Huntingburg RDC Approves New TIF Area for OFS Brands Expansion

The Huntingburg Redevelopment Commission approved a new tax-increment financing allocation area Wednesday that will redirect the property-tax growth from OFS Brands' planned $11 million expansion at Plant 18 away from schools, the county, and other overlapping taxing units for the duration of the TIF period.

The new district, designated the OFS 2026 allocation area, resets the assessed-value base to January 1, 2025. From that baseline forward, any incremental growth in real property and appreciable personal property taxes tied to the Plant 18 expansion flows into the TIF fund rather than to those overlapping units. OFS Brands Holding is listed as the designated taxpayer for purposes of capturing appreciable personal property tax revenue under the new area. That captured increment is available to the RDC to reimburse infrastructure costs and support development incentives; the Huntingburg school corporation, Dubois County, and other overlapping taxing units will not see that incremental revenue until the allocation period ends.

The expansion OFS representatives outlined is substantial: a roughly 60,000-square-foot building addition paired with a 120,000-square-foot addition at North Plant 18 in the Industrial Park West area, totaling approximately 180,000 square feet of new production space. OFS framed the project as part of a strategy to increase national sales and manufacturing capacity and reiterated the company's commitment to long-term investment in Huntingburg and Dubois County.

The action fills a gap left by the expiration of the original Industrial Park West TIF, which was established in 1996 and expired in January. Without a new allocation area, assessed-value growth from the OFS expansion would have flowed immediately to overlapping taxing units rather than being captured for redevelopment purposes.

OFS's investment history on the same industrial footprint gives the project context. Several years ago the company committed more than $25 million to install a robotic production line for furniture component manufacturing at the same Huntingburg campus. The Plant 18 expansion builds on that prior bet.

The RDC distributed a tax-impact statement to overlapping taxing units as required and found, based on study and comments received, that the amendment serves the public interest. The public hearing that preceded the resolution drew no questions and no objections before closing.

Implementation of the OFS 2026 allocation area will proceed through standard statutory TIF practices, including base-value administration, TIF receipt management, and ongoing oversight by city financial staff and the commission. The RDC also approved routine docket and non-docket claims tied to other TIF districts during Wednesday's session.