St. Joseph County approves economic development agreement with Amazon Data Services

The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 13 approved Resolution R-8-C-2024, an economic development agreement tying Amazon Data Services’ planned data center development to tax abatements, community enhancement fees and infrastructure commitments.

Bill Shaleo, the county’s economic development director, described the project in his presentation as a large-scale investment (the transcript cites “about $11,000,000,000 in scale”) and said the development agreement is “the glue that ties this whole project together.” Shaleo told the board the agreement contemplates real property tax abatements tied to individual data center shells — a 10-year, 50% abatement per data shell as described in the meeting — and an enterprise information technology equipment exemption on personal property (the transcript cites a 35-year window at 85% value for that exemption). He also described a package of community enhancement fees and infrastructure commitments, including water and sewer work, intersection improvements and funds for fire departments, schools and parks.

Shaleo said the agreement includes an initial commitment of 400 direct Amazon jobs that must meet the enterprise technology exemption’s wage threshold (described in the meeting as 125% of the county’s average wage, cited as roughly $30 an hour). He said additional contract jobs are expected to arise through services such as security, landscaping and food service. Shaleo also described water-monitoring requirements in the agreement: the company must install monitoring equipment on the sites and report data (Shaleo said monitoring would be coordinated with Peerless Midwest and the town of New Carlisle and is expected to be reported quarterly).

Commissioners who spoke in favor emphasized construction and permanent job creation and noted other nearby jurisdictions have granted larger abatements. Several commissioners said Amazon indicated it could complete existing onsite work and locate future work elsewhere if the abatements were not granted. The board moved and approved the resolution at the meeting.

Public commenters voiced concerns and requests. Steve Francis, a Clay Township resident, said the long-term abatement could total “$3 billion to $4 billion” over the exemption period and urged delay and additional scrutiny. Tom Rowe of South Bend questioned timing and transparency, asking why the agreement is being addressed now when construction is already underway. Nearby residents including Dan Caruso and Cheryl Nicks asked that community enhancement and fee revenues be prioritized for Olive Township and New Carlisle, the area they said will bear the project’s biggest impacts. Dan Caruso and other residents also urged that enforcement funds be used to reduce truck traffic on local roads.

Numbers cited at the meeting are not fully consistent across statements in the transcript: Shaleo characterized aggregate community fees and related values variously in the discussion (transcript excerpts cite figures such as about $143,000,000 and other line items that include an estimated $114,000,000 amount and a $7,000,000 intersection match). The transcript language contains overlapping figures and some phrasing that is unclear; the board discussion and public speakers repeatedly referred to multi-year abatement values and near-term increments to local redevelopment funds. Where the transcript is inconsistent, this article reports the figures as they were stated in the meeting and notes the ambiguity.

Next steps: Shaleo said the redevelopment commission already approved the agreement earlier the same day and that the agreement would proceed to the county council for further consideration of the real property tax abatement. The board recessed at the end of the session; additional approvals or implementation steps will appear in subsequent meetings.