St. Joseph County property owners are being urged to back two major data center projects as a way to soften the blow of looming property tax revenue losses, according to an open letter from resident Larry Garatoni.
In the letter, Garatoni warns that Indiana’s new law, Senate Enrolled Act 1, is estimated to cut St. Joseph County’s property tax revenue by about $90 million a year starting in 2027. He says no one yet knows whether that will mean cuts to government services, higher income taxes, or both, but argues that “difficult budgetary decisions” are coming.
Garatoni points to two planned data centers – a $13 billion project west of South Bend and a $4 billion Microsoft data center in Mishawaka – as a “tremendous opportunity” to grow the county’s tax base and add high-paying technical jobs. He criticizes what he calls “a tremendous amount of misinformation” about the projects and notes that some opponents, including Republican members of the County Council, either oppose the South Bend project or are wavering on the Microsoft plan.
In the letter, he dismisses concerns over groundwater, electric rates and farmland loss. He cites a review by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, saying it found that recent pond level drops in the area were due to seasonal drought, not data center activity, and notes that some centers would use closed-loop water systems. He also argues that data centers would not raise electric rates because they would pay for much of the new electrical infrastructure and operate under a separate rate structure from residential customers. On farmland, he writes that Indiana has 14.6 million acres of farmland and says the combined 2,000 acres needed for the projects would not create a shortage.
Calling the projects a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to protect the county’s finances and strengthen its long-term economy, Garatoni urges residents to contact all members of the County Council and to attend a rezoning meeting on December 9 at 6 p.m. at the County-City Building in South Bend, advising supporters to arrive by 5 p.m. to get a seat.
3 comments
Every single point Garatoni tries to make is false. Every. Single. One.
The long term jobs will go to H1B visa holders, not to local talent. Just look at what Microsoft/Google/Amazon are doing with their workforce. Firing tens of thousands of Americans and hiring H1Bs to replace them. Why does anyone think the data centers would be any different?
The tax revenue will never materialize, of course, and the water/farmland/electric costs will be even more severe than the critics are predicting.
These datacenter projects are a HARD NO.
Tell us exactly how much tax abatement these data centers are going to receive and over how long a period of time. Are you going to make it a TIF district? You tell us the aquifer is safe, how will you reimburse the people if you are wrong? You tell us the price of homeowner electricity rates will not rise, will you put that in writing? How much money is going into your pockets to support this? I’m sure you are shocked but we the people don’t believe you, and we don’t trust you. We know you are going to ram it through tonight, but note that you will have to run for election again, and when you prove to have lied to us we will vote you out.
The people spoke and it’s defeated for a least 6 months. Sharpen your arguments and be prepared to insist on NO when they come back to us in 6 months. No tax abatement’s, no ruined aquifer, no to electricity rate hikes. Follow the money to see who benefits, it is not John Q. Taxpayer that will see any benefits. Charles is right!