Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / ‘Few million dollars’ annually in tax incentives for Yorkville data center no longer on the table
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Few million dollars annually in tax incentives for Yorkville data
- 0:09Speaker 1: center no longer on the table. Written by Joey Weslow,
- 0:14Speaker 1: this article is being read by an automated voice brought
- 0:17Speaker 1: to you by Everlett. The City of Yorkville is no
- 0:21Speaker 1: longer offering tax incentives to the developers of a data center.
- 0:26Speaker 1: An agreement was previously on the books for the two
- 0:28Speaker 1: hundred twenty eight acre cyrus One Data Center, according to
- 0:32Speaker 1: City Administrator bart Olsen. The news came in light of
- 0:36Speaker 1: the developers agreeing to pay the city fifteen million dollars
- 0:40Speaker 1: up front due at the time of the building permit.
- 0:42Speaker 1: The up front payment is part of the city approved
- 0:46Speaker 1: development agreement. The cyrus Ie Data Center was the first
- 0:50Speaker 1: data projects approved by the city. The oneteen thirty seven
- 0:53Speaker 1: acre Project Cardinal and the five hundred forty acre Project
- 0:56Speaker 1: Steel data center soon joined the city's Eldame Corridor industrial transition.
- 1:02Speaker 1: The developers of Project Cardinal previously agreed to pay Yorkville
- 1:06Speaker 1: fifty one million dollars, and the developers of Project Steel
- 1:11Speaker 1: previously agreed to pay the city forty million dollars. City
- 1:15Speaker 1: officials have said no city incentives will be provided to
- 1:18Speaker 1: either of those two projects. Olson said city incentives were
- 1:22Speaker 1: originally intended to be provided to the cyrus Ie Data Center.
- 1:26Speaker 1: Similar to other large industrial and commercial projects in town,
- 1:30Speaker 1: cities often offer tax incentives as a way to attract
- 1:32Speaker 1: developers to build in their towns, as we've done with
- 1:36Speaker 1: Bright Farms and some other residential developments. The city agreed
- 1:39Speaker 1: to rebate a portion of the utility tax, which we
- 1:42Speaker 1: did estimate at time of approval to be a few
- 1:45Speaker 1: million dollars annually, Olson said during the July fourteenth City
- 1:49Speaker 1: Council meeting. Olson said the rebate depended on how many
- 1:53Speaker 1: megawatts the data center ended up using. He said the
- 1:57Speaker 1: rebate was structured to be in exchange for the develop
- 2:00Speaker 1: plopers cutting the city a eight point five million dollars
- 2:03Speaker 1: check for water and sewer infrastructure extensions out to the
- 2:07Speaker 1: data center site. The developers did pay the city that amount,
- 2:11Speaker 1: and the city had the construction work completed. The infrastructure
- 2:14Speaker 1: work is already up and running. It serves a larger
- 2:18Speaker 1: property than just the data center. It's a regional benefit
- 2:21Speaker 1: to the community in that neighboring properties adjacent to those
- 2:25Speaker 1: utilities will be able to tap in pay for their
- 2:28Speaker 1: fair share of that equipment and then have utilities at
- 2:31Speaker 1: a lesser cost than if they had to do it themselves.
- 2:33Speaker 1: Olsen said as part of the city's negotiations with cyrus Ie,
- 2:38Speaker 1: the city was able to cancel out the eight point
- 2:41Speaker 1: five million dollars dollar payment, allowing the city to recoup
- 2:44Speaker 1: one hundred percent of the utility taxes generated on site.
- 2:48Speaker 1: He said this means no rebates or tax incentives will
- 2:52Speaker 1: be provided by the city to cyrus Ie, and the
- 2:54Speaker 1: developers essentially paid upfront the utility extension infrastructure costs around
- 2:59Speaker 1: the site. The developers recently told the city the first
- 3:03Speaker 1: building permit would be ready within the next couple months.
- 3:07Speaker 1: Olsen said the majority of the fifteen million dollars upfront
- 3:10Speaker 1: check will go to the Yorkville School District one hundred
- 3:13Speaker 1: and fifteen for school construction. The remainder is being used
- 3:17Speaker 1: for city projects and sent to local nonprofits. The city
- 3:21Speaker 1: recently approved a ten million dollar sales tax rebate to
- 3:25Speaker 1: incentivize the construction of Costco in Town. The payment will
- 3:28Speaker 1: be made over ten thirty years using store generated sales
- 3:31Speaker 1: taxes