Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

We have no choice but to analyze the information we can obtain. So if these terms are different from the executed agreement, then provide that agreement to the public and I will gladly correct my analysis. Based upon the MOU available to me, the agreement calls for a minimum of 45 million per year for seven years, authority fees. That sounds like a lot of money, but the question is not simply is 45 million a lot of money, the question is 45 million compared to what? Because the same MOU allows qualifying facilities to begin at only 10% of the normal taxation for the first five years, gradually increasing until reaching 100% in year 25. Using the illustrative $17 billion build out, With 3.4 million coming online every two years, our 40-year comparison shows approximately 5.4 billion normal taxation versus approximately 3.22 billion under the MOU schedule. That is a loss of $2.23 billion of property tax revenue. Those numbers are estimates, values and millage rates will change. But that is exactly why the public deserves to see the county's own side by side analysis. And then we come to House Bill 439. House Bill 439 is now law, but it does not simply eliminate property taxes. It creates a mechanism by which a county or municipality can establish a homeowner tax credit program. And even the program must first be approved by the local voters in the referendum. More importantly, HB 439 expressly excludes school district millage from the county millage covered by this mechanism. So when we talk about eliminating property taxes, we need to be very precise about what actually is being promised. County officials have publicly acknowledged that the complete elimination of even the county portion would require a constitutional amendment to remove the existing limitation. And that addressing the school portion would require separate action as well. And changing Georgia's constitution is not a simple matter. Proposed constitutional amendments must receive a two-thirds vote in both houses of the General Assembly before it can even be placed before Georgia voters. And then the voters must approve it. Those are significant hurdles. They may happen, they may not. But this board does not control either one. So my question is, what happens in the interim? What happens if we commit ourselves to a 25 year tax abatement structure, but the constitutional amendment does not pass the legislature? What happens if it reaches the ballot and the Georgia voters reject it? What happens if the school tax issue is never resolved? Then we may have already granted decades of tax concessions, while the tax relief being used is to justify them never fully materializes. And there's one more number we cannot lose sight of. For a project involving a stated $17 billion investment, the MOU's cumulative job goals tops out. at 125 qualifying jobs. Year one calls for 40, year two for 80, year three for 125, and 125 from then on. I'm not seeing the hundreds of jobs that we've been told about. That does not make the project bad, but it tells us plainly that the principal public benefit we should be evaluating is tax revenue. Not massive permanent job creation, and that brings me back to the fundamental question. If tax revenue is the principal benefit, why are we discounting that tax revenue so heavily for 25 years? I'm not against data centers, I'm not against investment, and I'm not against tax relief. I am forgetting the best deal for the citizens of Columbia County. Show us the normal taxation versus the negotiated schedule. Show us what the county receives. Show us what the school system will receive currently, which is nothing. And show us what happens if HB 439, the constitutional amendment or separate school tax solution does not get across the finish line. I may be a part of a vocal minority tonight. But history reminds us that a principled minority willing to ask difficult questions can sometimes protect the interest of the majority. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I believe we only have one more motion that needs to be made. Well, let me verify that. My paper's got all mixed up. One more motion.

I make a motion to adjourn.

We're adjourned.