MORGAN COUNTY — Indiana is rolling out the red carpet for four planned data center campuses throughout the state, including “Project Louie,” the code name for the proposed data center campus to be constructed just east of Monrovia’s town limits.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC) voted last week to grant 35-year tax exemptions to four planned data center projects, incentives that the IEDC estimates are worth $168 million — or $42 million each — for the combined projects over the next three-plus decades. The data centers will be constructed in Morgan, Marion, Hancock and LaPorte counties.
The names of the company or companies that will operate the data centers have not been disclosed to the public. While Morgan County elected officials know who will own the data center near Monrovia, they have signed non-disclosure agreements prohibiting them from revealing the name.
The IEDC’s tax breaks, approved by the nine-member board June 25, will exempt data center operators from having to pay sales taxes on the purchase or lease of computers, servers or other equipment the company will need to run their facilities. Additionally, operators will be exempt from having to pay utility taxes on the purchase of electricity needed to run the equipment.
Each of the four projects throughout the state will receive these tax breaks for the next 35 years, after which the company or companies will be able to renew the incentive for up to three additional five-year periods, if the recipients make additional minimum investments.
This would mean Morgan County’s data center could enjoy the IEDC’s tax breaks for up to 50 years.
The IEDC’s new incentives come in the midst of Morgan County’s own financial red carpet.
At the end of May, the Morgan County Council approved a resolution granting Woodland Caribou LLC — the company developing the data center campus — real property tax deductions of 50 percent for the next 10 years.
This was possible after the council voted to designate the land — 391 acres positioned north of Ind. 42, east of West Union Church Road, south of Keller Hill Road and west of Antioch Road — an economic revitalization area.
So, with all these tax exemptions, what will Morgan County residents get out of the planned data center? After all, local officials promised the data center would be a “boon” to the county’s coffers.
Despite the IEDC’s incentives and the county’s own tax abatements, the county still anticipates receiving approximately $750,000 in tax revenue from the data center in its first year, according to county administrator Josh Messmer. Additionally, individual local entities like school districts and other government agencies will receive $250,000, meaning the data center will bring in a minimum of a million dollars in tax revenue during its first year.
At a million dollars, the data center is expected to be the third-highest source of revenue in the county, behind the AES power plant on Blue Bluff and the TOA automotive plant in Mooresville. Messmer said this revenue will only continue to grow in future years, and said the county hopes the data center campus will eventually become the highest source of tax revenue for the county.
The planned data center has not been popular with some Morgan County residents, particularly those who live in Monrovia. Residents packed meeting halls at the start of the year when news of the project first broke, with hundreds of people speaking out against the data center’s construction for various reasons.
Two Monrovia residents even filed a lawsuit in Morgan County Superior Court I back in March requesting Judge Dakota VanLeeuwen to overturn the county commissioners’ approval of the data center.
The petitioners alleged the data center campus would “cause immediate and irreparable loss of both plaintiff’s property values and their use and enjoyment of their property,” amongst other complaints.
