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Amazon campus, Lamb Weston enterprise-zone payments routed to city projects and taxing districts
Summary
City staff described how Amazonand Lamb Weston enterprise-zone payments will be distributed: internal projects (library, public safety center, Northeast water tower) and external payments to taxing districts, public safety and student-success fees.
City Manager Byron Smith told the committee that enterprise-zone payments linked to Amazon Web Services and Lamb Weston are beginning to flow and will be allocated to both city projects and other taxing districts under the terms of the enterprise-zone agreements.
Smith explained that Amazon's enterprise-zone agreements include a one-time $5 million community-development payment tied to construction (already received for the second campus) and annual payments that grow as additional buildings reach certificates of occupancy. "We split $50/50 with Umatilla County," Smith said of the $5 million distribution, and he added that the annual improvement fee is also split 50/50 with the county.
Smith described additional recurring payments the agreements authorize: an "additional annual fee" calculated as if $25 million were on the tax roll (this amount grows by 3% annually), a public-safety impact fee that began at $50,000 and grows at 3% a year, and a $50,000 student-success fee that goes to the local school district (Stanfield or Hermiston, depending on campus location). "These are payments in lieu of taxes," Smith said, and the city will distribute them to the other taxing jurisdictions according to the agreement language.
Smith also noted Lamb Weston remains a contributor to the enterprise-zone revenue stream; a portion of Lamb Weston's periodic payments ($50,000 of $500,000 identified in the agreement) is earmarked for parks projects determined in consultation with the company.
Smith said the enterprise-zone receipts are already being used internally to cover borrowing tied to civic projects (library, public-safety center and Harken Bridal), to repay the Northeast water-tower loan shared with Umatilla County, and to create transparency around the city's capital obligations. He told the committee that one line in the posted budget was a typographical error and that the $500,000 payment from Lamb Weston had in fact been received last fiscal year and will be corrected in the online budget posting.
No formal committee action was required on the enterprise-zone allocations during the hearing; staff presented the revenue and distribution plan for committee review.
