Orion Tax Abatement Problem

[FTW]

The following article came from a newspaper or social media post in Spencer County Indiana. At the end of this statement there is a reference to the closure of AEP. That is American Electric Power, a huge coal burning power plant that sent electricity to many states.

It was refitted under the Obama admin in order to meet new cleaner guidelines. Now it will be closed and many jobs will be lost in Spencer County and replaced by ONE full time job in a solar plant located in Troy Indiana, that converted over 1,000 acres of prime farm land into glass and toxic chemicals right next to a river.

The following Newspaper OR Social Media Post Was Paid for by Blake Voges for County Council
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Is tax abatement of solar fields the right economic development strategy for Spencer County? If not, we just handed over $1.7 Million of our tax dollars. If they were to locate here regardless of abatement we could have netted 5 Million in addition to our county budget.

On September 15th the County Council approved a tax abatement for Grandview Solar, worth about 1.7 million dollars in tax savings, as incentive to locate in Spencer County. Per the SB-1 Form, Grandview Solar will be investing 50 Million dollars of personal property and sustain one job with a minimum salary of $50,000. This investment will create a savings to Spencer County tax payers of about 1.3 Million dollars in the first ten years and $230,000 for each year after. Because property taxes in Indiana are levy limited, there will be no significant increase in revenue for Spencer County, the school corporation, or the Redevelopment Commission.

Was the 1.7 Million dollar investment of Spencer County tax dollars a condition of them locating here? Is it worth the investment of our tax dollars?

Things worth considering:
1. The 1.7 Million dollar incentive is less than 3% of their costs in the first ten years.
2. We gained one job, but taking 1200 acres out of farm production may cost agribusiness jobs.
3. We could have the first two large solar installations in the State here in Spencer County. Are they only coming here because we give abatement and no one else does? Or do we have something that makes our county attractive to them?

Conversely, if we were not to give abatement and they still located here, I would advocate for establishing a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district. TIF generates funds on the increase of assessed value from what is existing before the district is established.

This district would generate 3 Million dollars in the first ten years and $235,000 annually into the Redevelopment Commission for another ten years. That means the county would have over 5 Million dollars, in addition to our normal county budget, without costing a tax payer one extra dollar from what they were already paying.

Fifteen percent of these funds can be directed to education funding and the rest primarily used for infrastructure projects to generate more assessed value.

This is a CRITICAL point. We MUST aggressively fund the Redevelopment Commission so it has the tools and capitol to create economic development in the South Spencer School district to offset the future closure of AEP.