Dixie Chopper return to Fillmore gets abatement

Help from local governmental and economic development officials is fast tracking the return of the “World’s Fastest Lawnmower” to its old manufacturing home.

As Dixie Chopper transitions back to its original factory facility east of Fillmore, it will do so with a tax abatement on both real property improvements and personal property recently granted by the Putnam County Council.

Dixie Chopper will be investing $450,000 on property improvements, with the council granting an abatement that will save the manufacturer an estimated $39,863 of what would be $80,532 in taxes over the life of the abatement.

The investment in personal property — to wit, new manufacturing and IT equipment — will be $2,325,000. Over the life of the abatement, the savings will be an estimated $87,643 from a total estimated tax bill of $146,491 over the life of the abatement.

Several Dixie Chopper officials were in attendance for the most recent Putnam County Council meeting, with Rhino Ag and Dixie Chopper President Lisa Tubbs noting that the move from Dixie Chopper’s current location in Greencastle would mean the addition of 10 employees.

Greencastle Putnam County Economic Development Director Kristin Clary, who was also in attendance, shared with the Banner Graphic that these employees would represent $499,200 in annual salary.

There were no public comments in the hearing on the matter aside from those made briefly by Tubbs and Clary. The council granted the abatement unanimously.

The original facility — with 12.88 acres of property and 12,000 square feet of buildings — was sold in July 2020 to a Zionsville man for a tire distribution center. Purchase price at that time was $1.5 million.

The sale to Rhino Ag/Dixie Chopper was announced earlier this year.

Founded in 1980, Dixie Chopper was quite the home-grown success story for Putnam County, as Art Evans built his first mower in a dairy barn.

The company went on to revolutionize the entire lawn and garden industry by providing the first zero-turn lawn mowers built specifically for commercial mowing contractors.

That story seemed to be coming to an end with the 2014 acquisition of the company by Jacobsen/Textron and the 2018 shuttering of the old plant.

However, when Textron ceased its involvement in the mower business, Alamo Group, parent company of Rhino Ag, purchased Dixie Chopper and moved forward with manufacturing the mowers in Gibson City, Ill.

When the workforce needed didn’t pan out in Gibson City, Rhino called on Wes Evans, Art’s son and Dixie Chopper business unit manager, to resume production in Putnam County.

Since 2021, that’s been in a rented facility on Greencastle’s East Side, but with a desire to expand.

With the old facility coming back online, those plans should come to fruition.

In other business, the Putnam County Council:

• Approved the hire of an additional bailiff, this one for the court of Magistrate Melinda Jackman-Hanlin.

Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges noted that there is too much work for the bailiffs assigned to his court and Judge Matt Headley’s Circuit Court to also have them cover the magistrate court.

The request was for an annual expenditure of $37,560 for the position’s salary, though Auditor Kristine Berish noted there would be another $7,343 for benefits.

Regardless, seeing the need, the council approved the request, planning to take the money from the public safety local income tax.

• Also approved a $10,000 additional appropriation to Putnam Superior Court for pauper council.

Bridges noted that while there are public defenders on salary for the county, the relatively small stable of defenders sometimes makes conflicts of interest unavoidable.

Additionally, whenever a psychological evaluation is needed for a defendant — a situation Bridges said he tries to avoid at all costs — it is also paid from pauper council.

The council approved the additional to come from the general fund.

• Heard from Roachdale Public Library Manager Jennifer Stranger and local attorney Stacy Barclay regarding needed upgrades for the aging library.

The building has accessibility and security issues that the staff and board are trying to address through a bond issuance.

While the improvements should not cost the county any money, the issuance of bonds could affect the county’s ability to issue any for projects of its own.

No plan is set in stone, but Stranger and Barclay were in attendance to introduce the matter to the council.

• Approved requested changes to salaries in the Auditor’s Office.

Berish explained that the way the county has done business has “morphed” in recent years, and one person can no longer do both human resources and payroll.

With this in mind, she will have just one deputy handling HR and another doing payroll.

The previous duties of one of these employees are being transferred to other deputies and to the auditor herself.

The salary changes are simply to reflect the changes in duties. They are being made with money already in the auditor’s budget.

The request received unanimous approval.