The Facebook data center deal is dead.
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A potential swing vote on a contentious Utah plan to lure a Facebook data center with some $240 million in tax breaks is set to be decided as the State Board of Education takes up the issue. The incentive package was more than those previously offered to other companies wanting to move to Utah. Supporters said the data center would carry a high-tech cache that could draw other tech companies.
The deal could not be finalized as the State Board of Education passed approval for only a scaled-down plan with tax breaks capped at $100 million, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that the village of Los Lunas approved a 100 percent property tax abatement over 30 years for a Facebook data center in exchange for annual payments in lieu of taxes that begin at $50,000 and increase to $100,000, compared with West Jordan’s offer of a phased property tax break – from 75 percent to 100 percent – over 20 years.
Palesh added Tuesday night that “the big difference is New Mexico, from the governor on down, opened the doors wide and rolled out the red carpet” for Facebook, while Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams led a vocal opposition to the proposal in Utah.
Critics said they’d welcome Facebook, but the deal would have set a bad precedent for other companies who would expect the same kind of sweeteners.
With Facebook looking to break ground quickly and have the center operational as soon as next year, West Jordan announced its decision to pull out of the negotiations shortly after the school board vote.
The West Jordan City leaders did not name Facebook as the company seeking to move to Utah but instead referred to it as “Project Discus” in the statement.
“The City of West Jordan understands the concerns of the several taxing entities that voted on the proposed incentive package for this large data center which, while investing a large amount in capital expenditures, would not include a long-term significant employment base”, the statement said.
“If you want to attract an all-star player, you have to offer a competitive package”, he said in a statement.
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“While agreeing on numerous points brought out during these negotiations, city leaders felt they were not unsurmountable”. We really do have to look at the long term economic impacts to our state.
