Virginia's King George County Board of Supervisors has voted to reconsider the performance agreement made with Amazon, reports The Free Lance-Star.
Simultaneously, the county administrator and county attorney resigned. Whether the two incidents are connected is not confirmed, with administrator Chris Miller stating his resignation was a "mutually agreed decision to go in another direction."
The performance agreement is for the first phase of the 869-acre data center campus at the old Birchwood power plant on State Route 3 near Sealston. Under the existing agreement, Amazon would get rebates paid back to them for infrastructure and equipment investment out of the taxes the cloud giant paid to the county.
Amazon planned to invest $6bn in capital investments in the county to develop the campus, and $336 million on infrastructure. After Amazon pays taxes, King George would give Amazon a rebate of 10 percent of their costs ($36 million in this case).
In addition, there is an investment performance grant that varies from 10 to 20 percent depending on how much Amazon spends.
The company would thus get a significant tax break on its computer expenses - it will pay $1.25 per $100 of assessed value compared to $3.25 paid by other King George businesses.
The agreement was made on December 19. Since then, however, there has been a board shuffle. On January 2, Supervisor T.C. Collins was elected chairman and joined by three new board members, all of whom he had supported on the campaigns.
Collins voted against the agreement last month, arguing that it is not enough money to justify giving up the land to a major company.
County rules state that only those who vote in favor of a motion may bring it back for renegotiation. As a nay-voter, Collins was not eligible. However, Supervisor Cathy Binder, who voted aye, said she only did so with the intention of bringing it back into negotiation once the board had been reshuffled.
Senator Richard Stuart will act as interim county attorney, and handle the renegotiation.
The King George data campus was given the go-ahead in September 2023 when the board of supervisors approved a rezoning request for 869 acres of land from farmland to industrial use. Similarly, Collins and Binder were against some elements of the proposal.
Stafford County approves performance agreement with Amazon
January 2 saw Stafford County's Board of Supervisors unanimously approve a data center performance agreement with Amazon.
Also in Virginia, the Stafford County-based performance agreement pertains to the Potomac Church Tech Center, which consists of two data-center buildings planned on 50 acres off Old Potomac Church Road, near US 1 and Stafford Hospital and would also cover any future campuses, including a potential second site which could generator three times more revenue than the Potomac Church Tech Center.
The agreement is similar to that which has just been moved back into purgatory by King George County. Once Amazon invests $6bn in its data centers, it will be eligible for a rebate. The Potomac Church data center is expected to generate around $251 million in total revenue for the next 25 years, or an average of $10 million a year, of which Amazon would get back 15 percent of the revenue.
Amazon will also get a tax break on computers and servers at the site.
Other counties that have made similar agreements with Amazon include Spotsylvania and Caroline.
