Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the state government is giving them a tax break, how is that costing the state money? They are just reducing the amount of tax Apple will pay, in order to entice them to NC.
Unless the server farm places more strain on the NC infrastructure than the balance of the tax bill, then the state is still ahead.
No they are behind. Appleinsider had more info yesterday.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...lect_maiden_nc_as_site_of_1b_server_farm.html
That picture suggests that this land was formerly a farm. That farm paid property taxes. Apple is probably getting either a large break or don't have to pay at all. That means the county/state money goes down.
Your premise presumes that the folks formerly paying to be on this property were paying money into the county/state that they didn't really need in the first place. ( schools , roads, etc. ) So if it is gone they won't miss it. Or that somehow Apple being there will inject money into the coffers indirectly that will offset what is there.
The construction of this facility will cost the city no money, and create jobs, yet people complain about it, I don't understand.
Construction is a tempory job; in the article they mention one year. This is a 10 year deduction. For many years after construction, whatever incomes construction temporarily brings in, there will be no construction jobs of substance. May be another building they build on same property several years down the road when they fill this one up.
Frankly, what is stop Apple 10 years from now doing the same thing. I'm so poor can't you give me another 10 year break on taxes. "I'll come to your town if I don't have to pull my fair share of the weight" isn't really a good starting point if trying to build a relationship with a community. Sure there will be some who say OK.
Folks are usually queasy about 1 year bonus "for us" and 9 year bonus "for them". You think that is going to balance out?
Then there are probably a few farmers and homeowners who are strapped to come up with property taxes. Here comes Apple with $24 Billion in the bank who gets a free ride. That seem fair at first glance?
There are probably more folks who lost factory jobs who are tweaked because at first blush think that if they had just given their old company a free ride for 10 years their old job would still be there.
If you change things you are going to get a squeaky response out of some subset of a large group.
Also these "tax breaks but we'll make it up in other taxes" situations increasingly rings false with lots of folks. That is the hocus pocus pro sports teams spin when they want communities to pay for their stadiums. Folks in that county likely aren't dim either. Apple isn't going to spend $1 Billion in local stores inside the county. A huge chunk of that is going to go to Duke Energy which is one big company paying another. The little folks are like WTF, trickle down economics? Lots of the money that is being talked about will not be spent in that county. Some of it won't be spent in that state (specialized equipment bought out of state and shipped in.) The "hope" is that somewhere enough is spent in the county/state so that hit breakeven.
So the numbers go all Carl Sagan ' billions and billions ' because if it is enough billions surely the fraction they do get will make up for the $40 million revenue reduction here.
(notice it is now $2 billion as opposed to $1 billion the local development officials are throwing around. )
It is also doubtful that the county facilities won't incur a cost. Bet they need bigger water main going in (for the chillers) and waste water going out than is there now. (unless the old farm sucked down water like a camel.) Likewise there is AT&T data line local but for a top tier data center will need lines from two carriers. Bet someone will be digging and pulling fiber perhaps needing to trench some road sections sometime in the next year. Similarly, there is not obvious electricity substation on the map's picture. Apple will be paying Duke energy for power but bet there is Duke will be screwing around on the roads near there too sometime in the next year.
Usually when companies come in sometimes want vanity street " Acme Corp Way" or something like that which is yet another street to pave and care for (while not paying. ) Not as likely for this, since big data centers are suppose to be undercover and nondescript.
It is one thing when new industrial sites go into old industrial sites.
Frankly it is also a catch-22 too. Google and Apple are in part coming to these places because they are depressed ( which makes often make more energy available and land cheaper). What happens when the areas rebound 10 years from now? Do the moving vans show up and move out the equipment to the next depressed community who is willing to give up even more in taxes?
