The Montgomery County Commission voted 3-0 Monday, Dec. 29, to authorize the county to enter into agreements with Amazon Data Services with respect to the Chapter 100 agreement.

Following the meeting Monday, Presiding Commissioner Ryan Poston said the vote was to codify in paper the agreement between the county and Amazon Data Services, Inc. regarding a Chapter 100 abatement for its proposed data center in the county. The county had previously approved a resolution relating to the tax abatement agreement at its Dec. 18 public meeting on the issue.

Amazon is planning a data center to be located on a 1,000-acre parcel in the northeast of the Interstate 70 and Highway 19 interchange near New Florence. The applicant for the project is listed as NorthPoint Development, LLC, based in Kansas City.

The proposed project would include two separate phases, with the initial phase consisting of four primary structures, with each consisting of 220,000 square feet under one roof. The site plan provided to Montgomery County Planning and Zoning also references a second phase which would include 13 additional buildings of similar size.

At the public tax hearing Dec. 18, the commissioners hosted a presentation from AWS representatives as well as Mark Grimm from Gilmore & Bell PC, who drafted the cost-benefit analysis which serves as the frame for the agreement with AWS. The commissioners also held public comment regarding the proposed abatement as well as input from the local taxing districts who could possibly be affected by the abatement.

The agreement would see the county take title to personal property assets belonging to Amazon at the beginning of the abatement period that would be returned to them at the end of the period. The approval of abatements is a two-step process, with the first part being approval of the plan cost-benefit analysis which was done at the Dec. 18 meeting. The second part of the process was approval of the definitive agreements with Amazon, which was approved at the Dec. 29 meeting.

During the Dec. 18 meeting, AWS Economic Development Manager Emily Smith made a presentation regarding the proposed abatements.

Smith said under the abatement proposal Amazon would be paying all of the real property taxes and a percentage of the personal property taxes. Over a 25-year period, she said Amazon would be paying a minimum of $326 million in taxes and a maximum of $1.5 billion, with total projected tax revenues for the county ranging from $400 million to $1.8 billion. In comparison the parcel currently generates only $8,000 per year, which would amount to $200,000 over a 25-year period.

Smith said Amazon will be required to create 150 jobs to get incentives and that Amazon’s average salary for positions in the data center are $85,000.

Real Property

With respect to real property assessment values and proposed tax collections, the plan provides for two different scenarios entitled minimum and maximum scenario. The minimum scenario includes proposed values and revenues if Amazon only completes the initial four of 17 proposed 220,000 square foot structures. The maximum scenario pertains to completion of all 17 proposed structures.

Under the minimum scenario, the first year taxes would be assessed on the Amazon project would be 2028 with an estimated assessed value of $86,400,000, under that value the taxing jurisdictions would receive $5,239,987 in revenue based upon current tax rates. At full build-out of the project in 2029, the estimated assessed value would be $217,728,000, with taxing jurisdictions receiving $13,204,768 in revenue based upon current rates. The taxing jurisdictions include: State of Missouri, Montgomery County, Development Disabilities Assistance Board, Montgomery County Health, Montgomery County R-II School District, Montgomery County Ambulance, New Florence Fire Protection District, Montgomery County Road and Bridge, Road District No. 1 and Commercial Surcharge.

To give a couple of individual examples, with the proposed data center, the county would gain $200,534 in revenues in 2028 and $505,347 in 2029, while the school district would gain $3,433,968 in 2028 and $8,653,599.

From 2028 to 2050, taxing jurisdictions would be estimated to earn $326,610,109 in additional revenues.

Under the maximum scenario, the first-year taxes would be assessed would be 2028, with an estimated assessed value of $216 million, under that value taxing jurisdictions would receive $13,099,968 in revenue based upon current rates. At full build-out of the project in 2031, the estimated assessed value would be over $1.1 billion, with taxing jurisdictions receiving $66,727,744. Under this scenario the county would receive $501,336 in 2028 and $2,553,672 in 2031. The school district by comparison would receive $8,584,920 in 2028 and $43,729,293 in 2031.

From 2028 to 2050, taxing jurisdictions would be estimated to earn over $1.5 billion dollars in additional revenues.

Personal Property

With respect to personal property, the plan proposes a 25-year partial personal property tax abatement period which would include payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT).

From 2028 through 2032, the PILOT would be $3 million per year for all taxing districts other than the ambulance and fire district. For the ambulance and fire district they would receive all of their personal property taxes that would be due from the project as they have opted out of the arrangement.

From 2033 through 2042, all taxing districts other than ambulance and fire would receive 5 percent of the property taxes due and owing, while ambulance and fire would receive 100 percent.

From 2043 to 2052, all taxing districts other than ambulance and fire would receive 25 percent of the personal property taxes due and owing, while ambulance and fire would again receive 100 percent.

For the 25-year partial payment period this would mean that the PILOT amounts would total $74,863,631 with tax abatements totaling $244,078,163 under the minimum scenario. Under the maximum scenario, PILOT payments would total $308,610,818, with tax abatements to Amazon totaling $982,437,754.

According to the proposed plan, Amazon has also agreed to provide $1.5 million in 2026 to replace the 911 system in the county and upgrade all radios and equipment. They have also agreed to provide $1.5 million in 2027 to provide for other needs in the county.

The company has also agreed to pave five miles of roads around the proposed facility site at their cost.