Microsoft to pay full taxes in La Porte; redevelopment commission will allocate 15% to school district

Sandra Wood, superintendent of LaPorte Community School Corp, and La Porte Mayor Tom Dermody joined Bert Cook, executive director of the La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership, on the district podcast to explain a new agreement with Microsoft announced earlier the same day.

The new arrangement, Cook said, ends the district's earlier June 2024 pilot arrangement and requires Microsoft to pay full taxes on both real property and personal property. Cook said the redevelopment commission has agreed to direct 15% of the tax revenues as they are generated to LaPorte Community School Corp to support educational programming. "Microsoft pays its full taxes on both the real property side and then the personal property side," Cook said.

Why it matters: school leaders framed the shift as a long-term boost for a district of about 6,000 students. Wood called the day "setting history" for the community, saying the arrangement could provide sustained resources for staffing, career and technical education and other programs that will affect students who are now in preschool through graduation.

Scope and timing: Cook said that, under Indiana rules, taxes are paid in arrears and that the first full-year assessments are likely when buildings come online (expected in 2028 with payments in 2029). He said a partial assessment in 2027 could yield some 2028 revenue, and that the Microsoft campus buildout is expected to take roughly five to seven years. Officials cautioned that precise dollar amounts depend on future assessments, equipment depreciation and valuation rules; Cook said modeling indicates the new agreement will generate "significantly more resources than would have been generated by the pilot initially," but that the parties will wait for formal assessments before publishing firm numbers.

Background on the prior arrangement: Cook recounted that the original June 2024 agreement had Microsoft paying full real-estate property taxes while receiving a personal-property abatement (a 100% abatement for 40 years under Indiana's data center exemption). That earlier deal included a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes formula—described in the conversation as 30% up to $2.5 million over 40 years—which Cook said had been the basis for prior public discussion.

Workforce and training commitments: Officials said the partnership includes workforce-development components. Wood outlined plans for a Microsoft-branded data center academy in partnership with Ivy Tech, to be housed in district space and offering hands-on training (including decommissioned servers and a mock data center) for students and adult learners. Cook and Dermody also said Microsoft has committed to local union labor for construction and to create a minimum of 200 jobs, with Cook estimating the number could be closer to 400 and noting data-center wages in the sector average over $100,000 in some market models.

Statements on community impacts and safeguards: Dermody described Microsoft's approach to water and utilities as cautious, saying the company indicated it would "bring the water in and take the water out" and "we're not gonna touch any of the ground water," language the mayor used to reassure residents about groundwater impacts. Officials emphasized that Microsoft's utility and infrastructure commitments, along with the site's fiber and grid access, were central to the city's decision.

What officials did not provide: The podcast did not include a vote tally or formal minutes of the redevelopment commission or school board action; Cook reported the prior agreement had been rescinded and that a new agreement was adopted earlier that day but did not read a motion, provide a mover/second, or give vote counts in the episode. Officials also declined to provide a definitive dollar figure before assessments are completed.

Next steps: Officials said they will await building assessments to report concrete revenue figures and plan further announcements on short-term funding uses and the data center academy timeline. The district indicated it will continue public information sessions and follow-up discussions.