Trenton is moving forward with tax incentives for a massive data center in the city’s industrial park.
City Council voted Thursday to approve an agreement granting developer Prologis a 15-year, 75% property tax abatement on the value of the planned data center buildings.
The project is set to be a 250-megawatt data center, including four buildings and an electrical substation, on 140 acres of land off Woodsdale Road. It’s near homes, soccer fields, and farmland.
The data center has been controversial. Some people who live in Trenton have been speaking out against the development for months, citing concerns from noise pollution to increased utility bills to environmental impacts. Earlier this week, a group of residents submitted a petition to the city to change its charter to prohibit the construction of data centers over 25 megawatts.
How will the tax abatement work?
Trenton and Prologis will enter into a Community Reinvestment Area agreement, where the city will provide the developer with a 15-year, 75% property tax abatement for each new building on the data center project site.
A Community Reinvestment Area is an economic development tool contained in the Ohio Revised Code and administered by the city government to provide real property tax exemptions for property owners who renovate existing buildings or construct new ones.
Finance Director Matthew Mesisklis says that after the abatement is applied to the data center development, the taxable building value will be reduced from $233 million to approximately $58 million. That’s based on his calculation at $265 per square foot for the four 220,000-square-foot buildings.
When combined with land value, the total taxable value will be close to $68 million.
The project is expected to generate approximately $1.3 million in annual revenue for the city and school district from property taxes.
- $824,000 to Edgewood City Schools ($3 million annually after the agreement ends)
- $513,000 to the City of Trenton ($1.87 million annually after the agreement ends)
One resident at Thursday’s council meeting asked why Trenton would give the data center a tax break if the project’s main appeal is its ability to provide money to the city.
Mayor Ryan Perry responded, saying if the city doesn’t offer an abatement, the business won’t come.
“I'm going to be honest with you, every business that we have in the city of Trenton has an abatement of some kind,” Perry said.
Data center payroll increases, compensation agreement
Prologis estimates the project will create 120 new full-time jobs by Dec. 31, 2035. It’s pledged an annual payroll of approximately $9 million, or roughly $75,000 per job.
That’s an increase from the developer’s initial commitment of a $5 million annual payroll, or about $40,000 per job. The change came after Trenton leaders and residents expressed that the amount was too low.
The city also approved a Compensation Agreement where Prologis will provide several up-front payments.
The developer is paying $940,200 to Edgewood City Schools and $59,800 to Butler Tech. It has also already paid approximately $2.5 million to Trenton Water Works and $210,400 for sewer capacity to the city.
Vote on 600-acre annexation tabled
Council tabled a vote on whether to annex 600 acres from neighboring St. Clair and Madison Townships into Trenton’s city limits.
Mayor Perry said Amazon Web Services could build on the land. Several people expressed concern about the potential for it to become another data center.
Amazon Web Services operates data centers around the country that house physical infrastructure needed to power the cloud computing platform.
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