Your Taxes, Your Schools, Your Say at the Statehouse

The Indiana Statehouse may be 140 miles south of your front door, but decisions made there don’t stay there — they show up in your electric bill, the deductions and credits on your property tax bill and the tax breaks available to data centers like the one Microsoft is building in Granger.

The candidates running to represent you and other St. Joseph County residents in the Indiana General Assembly may be from different parties and backgrounds. But they all have to be ready to tackle three issues that have been shaping this Nov. 3 election cycle: data centers, utilities and schools.

The Candidates: Your Vote, Their Decisions

Senate District 11

Gabrianna Gratzol, a Democrat, is a manufacturing worker, mother and community volunteer running on affordability, workers’ rights and public education. Her platform includes a $15 minimum wage, expanding the Healthy Indiana Plan or creating a public option and strong protections around data center development. “I do not promise perfection, but I do promise clarity,” she writes on her campaign website.

Brian Schmutzler, a Republican, is an anesthesiologist and healthcare executive seeking his first state legislative term. His platform emphasizes household affordability, healthcare access, transparent government spending and holding energy companies accountable. He defeated Sen. Linda Rogers, who had held the seat since 2018, in the May 5 Republican primary after President Donald Trump endorsed him. He says, “More spending on special projects and corporate handouts is not the way to build a Hoosier economy that works for Hoosiers.”

House District 5

Alex Wait, a Democrat, is a researcher and scriptwriter with experience in political organizing and substitute teaching. His platform calls for a 3-year moratorium on data center construction in Indiana, a local veto over data center projects, a nonpartisan redistricting commission and funding and support for neighborhood schools.

“Neighborhood schools are a community anchor, and politicians should stop using them as a battlefield,” his campaign website states.

Dale DeVon is the Republican incumbent, a homebuilder and former St. Joseph County council member who has served in the Indiana House since 2012. He chairs the Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee and also serves on the Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee. His recent legislative priorities include housing affordability, utility accountability, predictable billing and protections for struggling customers.

House District 6

Maureen Bauer is the Democratic incumbent running unopposed. She’s a South Bend native, substitute teacher and small-business owner with a background in sustainable agriculture. Her legislative work includes a law creating a pilot program to monitor PFAS, a group of toxic, man-made chemicals, and she serves on both the House Public Health and Environmental Affairs committees.

House District 8

Ryan Dvorak, the Democratic incumbent, has represented the district since 2002 and holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. His legislative priorities include utility accountability, environmental protection, workers’ wages and college affordability.

Eric Harris is the Republican candidate. The St. Joe Current could not verify sufficient current biographical information or a detailed campaign platform for this profile. His VOTER411 candidate listing shows no responses to its policy questionnaire.

1. Data Centers: Big Investments Equal Tax Breaks for Businesses

The state has been giving farmers and manufacturers sales tax exemptions for qualifying supplies and machinery since 1963. In 2019, the General Assembly extended similar exemptions to data center companies with the approval of House Bill 1405. It incentivized data center development by granting a state sales tax exemption on the purchases of qualifying equipment and energy for certified data centers. In 2025, House Bill 1601 expanded the tax breaks to include defense infrastructure, quantum computing research and associated equipment.

Developers’ eligibility for state-level tax incentives is based on the applicable county population, and the amount of money companies invest in their projects over five years.

But the tax breaks for data centers don’t stop at the state level. County governments can also grant property tax abatements and further tax exemptions on equipment to draw development into their community.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. committed up to $98.3 million in tax credits and training grants to Amazon Web Services, plus sales tax exemptions on eligible capital investments over a 50-year term. The company can claim the credits and grants once it makes its investments. In August 2024, St. Joseph County approved a 50% property tax abatement for 10 years on each data center building and an 85% exemption for 35 years on the computer servers and equipment inside them.

On Sept. 22, the County Council voted 6-3 for Bill 71-26, a resolution directing the Area Plan Commission to draft a zoning change banning new hyperscale data centers in unincorporated St. Joseph County. Four Republican council members filed it in August. WVPE reported the ban would apply to new data centers once Amazon’s and Microsoft’s are finished.

After Microsoft announced it would not be seeking county tax breaks for its Granger site, some members of the county council asked Amazon to voluntarily contribute some of its $38 million in county tax savings to a fund that would reduce homeowners’ property tax bills. In April 2025, St. Joseph County Assessor Mike Castellon cited development and housing shortages among the reasons for rising New Carlisle assessments.

Councilwoman Amy Drake, a Republican, told WVPE that during a private meeting with select county council members and Amazon in August, Amazon officials said they were not interested in revisiting the abatement. Amazon has not released a formal statement.

The Candidates’ Positions:

Gratzol opposes data centers and, according to her website, says, “If it becomes clear that they are necessary for economic development, we need to put strong protections in place to ensure local communities aren’t sacrificed in the process.”

The St. Joe Current could not find Schmutzler’s position.

Wait criticizes the data center approval process and calls for greater local control. “Regardless of what side you’re on when it comes to data centers, I think we can all agree the process for approving and building them is completely broken,” he said in a written statement published on his campaign website.

DeVon, the incumbent, voted in favor of both 2019 House Bill 1405, which passed the House 84-6 on its final vote, and 2025 House Bill 1601, which passed 61-24. The St. Joe Current could not find his current position beyond those votes.

Bauer, the incumbent, was not in office for House Bill 1405 and was excused during the final vote for House Bill 1601, though she did cast her vote against it previously.

Dvorak, the incumbent, voted against both 2019 House Bill 1405 and 2025 House Bill 1601. The St. Joe Current could not verify a current campaign statement explaining his position on data center development.

The St. Joe Current could not find Harris’s position.

2. Utilities: Growing Demand Means Higher Costs for You

In St. Joseph County, rising utility usage costs, aging infrastructure and water and sewer projects are hitting your wallet.

An Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month paid $166.56 before taxes as of July 1, 2025, up $6.26, or 3.9%, from a year earlier, according to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s annual bill survey. I&M says replacing outdated poles and lines and upgrading substations along the 12-mile route from Niles, Michigan, to South Bend will improve reliability and meet growing demand.

In 2025, Mishawaka proposed increasing wastewater rates 3.75% annually for five years, beginning in 2026, to help pay for sewer separation and other wastewater work. The city’s website confirms wastewater rate changes took effect Jan. 1, 2026. While federal and state mandates require these improvements, WPVE reports the project is “unfunded.”

In its March 28, 2025, Indiana Integrated Resource Planning Report, I&M forecasts that its Indiana peak demand will more than double from 2023 levels by the end of 2030, with hyperscale customers, a group that includes large data centers, making up about 60% of it..

In 2025, the state legislature passed House Bill 1007, which created expedited paths for utilities to build new generating facilities or acquire existing ones to accommodate the energy needs of new, large customers. It also established cost-recovery provisions and financial-assurance requirements.

But Citizens Action Coalition argues that lawmakers have made it easier for utilities to pass costs on to customers through a series of laws dating to 2002. The group points to laws allowing utilities to charge customers for power plants before they produce electricity and later laws expanding recovery of transmission and distribution costs.

The Candidates’ Positions:

Gratzol identifies utility-tax reform as her first legislative priority and calls for controlling utility billing, according to the South Bend Tribune.

Schmutzler’s campaign website states that he plans to hold energy companies accountable for rising energy costs, and that it is a priority for him.

Wait blames the current GOP leadership for the rising costs of utilities, saying “I will push for rate structures that don’t force impossible choices between groceries and electric bills,” according to his campaign website.

DeVon voted in favor of 2026 House Bill 1002, a utility affordability law that expands predictable billing options and requires state-regulated utility companies to offer assistance to low-income customers. His website update says the most recent legislation “adds performance-based accountability to ensure utilities are hitting targets aimed at reducing costs and increasing reliability.”

Bauer voted for House Bill 1002 and supports I&M’s proposed residential reductions and three-year freeze, according to her Sept. 16 newsletter.

Dvorak voted for House Bill 1002 and authored 2026 House Bill 1340 which would have removed Indiana’s 7% sales tax from electricity, gas and water bills. The measure didn’t pass.

The St. Joe Current was unable to find Harris’s stance.

3. Schools: Tax Relief Comes at a Price

In 2025, lawmakers passed SB 1, a property-tax relief package affecting revenue for schools and local government. When it passed, legislative estimates projected South Bend Community School Corporation would receive about $27.4 million less in property-tax revenue from 2026 to 2028 than it otherwise would have collected. ABC57 reported estimates of $4.9 million for 2026, $7.4 million for 2027 and $15.2 million for 2028.

At the same time, the district faces losing the former Clay High School building for $1.

An Oct. 26 court ruling ordered the district to make Clay available to Career Academy, a nonprofit public charter operator, under Indiana’s 2011 “dollar law.” That law requires school districts to make underutilized or vacant schools available to charter schools and charge no more than $1 a year to lease or $1 to purchase.

The dispute concerns transferring a taxpayer-funded asset out of district control.

“It’s a $40–50 million asset, and we should not give it up for a dollar,” school board member Marcus Ellison said in July 2025.

The Candidates’ Positions:

Gratzol supports greater investment in public schools. “We need to follow the examples of other states with better education outcomes and invest in our public schools,” her campaign platform states.

The St. Joe Current was unable to verify Schmutzler’s position on SB 1’s school-revenue effects or the Clay transfer.

Wait supports protecting neighborhood schools. His campaign website says schools should receive funding and support so children have opportunities and families can remain rooted locally.

DeVon voted for SB 1 on April 10, 2025, and SB 270 on Feb. 20, 2024. SB 270 changed the exemption relevant to the Clay dispute. Those were votes on statewide laws, not a vote specifically authorizing Clay’s transfer.

Bauer voted against SB 1 on April 10, 2025 and SB 270 on Feb. 20, 2024, according to those roll calls.

Dvorak also voted against SB 1 on April 10, 2025 and SB 270 on Feb. 20, 2024.

The St. Joe Current was unable to verify Harris’s position on either measure or the Clay transfer.

Those elected to the General Assembly on Nov. 3 will help write and pass the laws that affect your neighborhood, your money, your children and your future.