8
Wednesday,March3,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Approximate locations of two proposed Google projects, with Webber Street to the right and River Road to the left, in west The Dalles. Current server facilities can be seen at far left.
Mark B. Gibson photo/graphic
GOOGLE
Tax districts
voice support
Continued from page 1
will be sought Wednesday,
March 3 (after print deadline
for this issue) at the Wasco
County Commission meeting
and Monday, March 8, at the
City of The Dalles council
meeting.
Overview
The SIP is a state pro-
gram overseen by Business
Oregon. It provides up
to 15 years of partial tax
abatement and is similar to
an Enterprise Zone, also a
state program, under which
previous Google data centers
in The Dalles were built. The
program allows for a 15-year
tax abatement, beginning
with the completion of each
project, with an initial $50
million of assessed value
fully taxed for each facility,
based on an investment of
$600 million as estimated by
Google.
The SIP agreement also
includes a community
service fee of 25 percent of
taxes saved, the amount set
by Business Oregon with
distribution negotiated local-
ly, and a locally negotiated
component developed by
Wasco County, City of The
Dalles and Google LLC.
The community service
fee will be distributed among
county taxing districts, using
a formula negotiated locally
among the districts. Under
prior urban renewal tax
abatement agreements, simi-
lar payments went to the city
and county to be distributed
as decided by their respective
council and commission.
The locally negotiated
component includes a
guaranteed annual payment,
or GAP payment, to ensure
assessed taxes and the
community service fee equal
50 percent of the full taxable
value of the first facility and
60 percent of the second.
If property taxes and the
service fee, capped at $2.5
million, does not equal 50- or
60 percent of taxable value,
depending on the project,
the GAP payment makes up
the difference; a construction
fee of $3 million for each
project, to be payed when
construction begins; and a
land transfer of a minimum
of 35 acres to Wasco County,
at no cost, which includes
in part the former site of the
Fort Dalles Rodeo grounds.
The GAP payments were
negotiated locally to make
up any deficit between taxes
paid and the community
service fee so that 50 percent
of full property taxes for the
first project and 60 percent
for the second are paid.
The GAP payment, when
triggered, would be paid to
the city and county. Matthew
Klebes, director of admin-
istrative services for Wasco
County and Enterprise Zone
manager, who presented the
SIP agreement staff report,
said the county and city
were working on a process
for allocation guidelines
for those payments, to be
completed within a year. “If
this agreement is approved,
I expect that process will be
expedited and brought back
to the city and the commis-
sion as quickly as possible,”
he added.
In his presentation before
the city, Klebes noted the site
was delisted as a national
superfund site in 1996, and
the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality
issued a “no further action
needed” notice in 2012.
“However, there is still quite
a bit of infrastructure in
place, and quite a large de-
gree of complexity in clearing
that property to make it site
ready,” he added, and the
city will benefit from that
cleanup.
“This agreement is solely
focused on tax abatement
agreement and the economic
incentives associated with
the project,” Klebes noted at
the conclusion of the staff
report. Google will have to
plan the projects, acquire the
proper permits and address
a host of local, state and
federal requirements prior
to start of construction. “This
agreement will not circum-
vent any of those processes,”
he said.
In addition to Klebes, the
negotiating team was made
up of The Dalles Mayor
Rich Mays, Wasco County
Commissioner Steve Kramer,
Wasco County Administrator
Tyler Stone, Wasco County
Tax Assessor Jill Amery and
The Dalles City Manager
Julie Kruger. Former mayor
Steve Lawrence also sat in on
many of the meetings, having
negotiated with Google in
the past.
Is this a done deal?
Mayor Mays opened
public discussion before
The Dalles City Council
with a question submitted
prior to the hearing regard-
ing the value of holding a
public hearing on the issue
after negotiations had been
completed. “If this is a ‘done
deal,’ why get public input at
this stage,” the writer asked.
A similar question was asked
when prior agreements
with Google were under
consideration.
Mays said that although
he does not vote unless there
is a tie, he did help negoti-
ate the agreement. “At the
conclusion of negotiations
in early February, I thought
that this agreement would
bring a tremendous amount
of benefit to our commu-
nity, with the belief that if I
heard something during the
one month period of time
“WeneedGoogleinTheDalles.Mostofususe
Googleeveryday,isn’titnicetoknowtheyare
inourownbackyard?”
Corliss Marsh
The Dalles
in which this has become
public, that had the pos-
sibility of changing that, I
would seriously consider it.
As it stands now, and we still
have a ways to go, I do have
an open mind and I don’t
think this is a done deal,” he
said. “I am waiting to hear
anything that will make this
agreement not be in the best
long term interests of the
city of The Dalles and Wasco
County.”
Councilor Dan Richardson
said he had lost count of the
conversations he had had
regarding the agreement, but
did not see it as a done deal.
“We look forward to people
with ideas, concerns or ques-
tions contacting us.”
Councilor Rod Runyon
noted that his decision was
not a done deal, but noted
also that negotiations with
Google were conducted by
elected officials, representing
and speaking for the com-
munities they represent at
both the city and county lev-
el. “This is strikingly different
than the deals in the past,” he
added. It was negotiated by a
community team, hired and
elected. “I’ve said before that
I will not support another
Enterprise Zone project with
Google,” he said, but noted
the SIP was “a very different
animal” and addressed the
most important failings of
the Enterprise Zone pro-
gram, as applied to Google.
“Community input was a
big part of this process, and
has been coming in for over
15 years regarding Google,”
he said. That input empha-
sized the need for tax district
participation in how in-lieu
payments were distributed,
he noted, and the SIP agree-
ment allows for that.
Councilor Timothy
McGlothlin added the
purpose in holding a public
hearing was to inform the
public of the facts and get
community input. “We’re
listening. We will decide at
the end of the process, that’s
how these hearings work.”
Public testimony
Public testimony before
both the county and the city
included statements of sup-
port from a number of taxing
districts, which will receive
a share of the community
service fee, with distribution
details negotiated by the
taxing districts within 90
days of agreement approv-
al. Additional community
input focused primarily on
possible environmental
impacts, impacts to the city’s
water sourcing and usage,
negotiations regarding the
community service fee and
distribution of the GAP
payments.
“We need Google in The
Dalles. Most of us use Google
every day, isn’t it nice to
know they are in our back-
yard?” said Corliss Marsh.
“That proposal will come
before the city council,
and those meetings will be
public,” Mays said. “While
the agreement is expected to
accommodate Google, it will
also ensure an adequate wa-
ter supply for all residents,”
he said.
Steve Lawrence, former
mayor of The Dalles, said, “I
was very impressed with how
this negotiation went. When
you look at the first Google
facility, the deal was valued
at about $3.5 million. Google
two, it was about $13 million.
When you look at Google 3,
it was over $30 million. And
now we are talking about
$120 million,” he noted. “I
was very impressed that
Google came to us to talk
about a SIP agreement,
because of all the things that
had been said,” Lawrence
said. “This is going to be a
great opportunity for this
community.
Don Warren, of The Dalles
Main Street, noted that he
was in favor of the project.
But he encouraged the city
to consider a way to decrease
the visual impact of the new
facilities. “Could we do a fan-
tastically large mural, or fool
the eye and make it look like
the basalt cliffs of the Gorge,
or something. How can we
make sure this is beautiful
and not detracting from the
beautiful Gorge,” he said.
Tonya Brumley, a resident
of Dufur, also encouraged
the council to consider ways
to improve the visual impact
of the new facilities to make
them “more welcoming.”
The existing buildings,
Brumley noted, are “a bit of
an eyesore.” She suggested
finding some way to be more
artful, and perhaps reduce
the industrial appearance of
the facilities.
“I think with the beauti-
fication we have set forth in
the city, this is maybe the
time, finally, to make some-
thing a little more appealing
that reflects not only the
history, but also the future
of The Dalles. Something
we would all be proud to
look at daily when we drive
by. Especially now that its
off the freeway — this is our
front door to the community,
our front porch, our front
yard. Let's make this look
the best we can if this moves
forward.”
Taxing districts impact
Estimated property taxes on $50 million, year 1, by
taxing districts. This represents property taxes assessed
under the SIP agreement, and does not include the com-
munity service fee or locally negotiated components.
Total: $909,010
Wasco County: $197,905
Port of The Dalles:
$9,345
Northern Wasco County
Parks & Recreation:
$31,630
Wasco County/The
Dalles Library: $31,650
Mid-Columbia Fire &
Rescue: $97,755
Wasco County Soil
& Water Conservation
District: $11,640
4-H and OSU Extension:
$11,640
City of The Dalles:
$140,345
Urban Renewal District:
$60,240
School District 21:
$243,835
Columbia Gorge
Community College:
$12,580
Education Services
District: $21,775
Bonds (CGCC, MCF&R,
Parks & Rec): $38,670
Water issue to
be addressed
Mark Gibson
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
Water usage by Google,
especially as it relates to two
new proposed data centers
in The Dalles, is currently
being negotiated between
Google LLC and the City of
The Dalles, and details of
that agreement will be made
public when negotiations
are complete, Mayor Rich
Mays said during the public
hearing Feb. 22 in The Dalles.
That should happen within a
couple of months, Mays said,
and no information on the
negotiations would be avail-
able prior to that time.
However, one of the
potential benefits of Google
expansion in The Dalles
noted in the staff presenta-
tion reviewing the Strategic
Investment Program (SIP)
proposal before the city and
Wasco County is engagement
with the city in water storage
and recovery, and questions
were asked about how that
would work.
Dave Anderson, The Dalles
public works director, ex-
plained that “aquifer storage
and recovery is a method of
taking surface water through
our water treatment plant in
the winter when there is a
surplus supply, treating it and
putting it down a well into an
aquifer for recovery later. Its a
way to improve the sustain-
ability of an aquifer, and is an
option we are looking at in
the future.”
He added that providing
a safe and reliable water
supply to everyone in the
city was the primary objec-
tive of his department, and
no agreements would be
considered that jeopardized
that supply.
Design LLC (Google) has
paid for and provided the city
with all the analysis needed
to show this is an option for
The Dalles in the future, and
has paid for the permitting
for the city to move forward
with this if it decides to do so
in the future.
During the hearing,
Carolyn Wood of The Dalles
noted the city gets water from
the mountain and through
wells, and suggested there
were wells at the project
site that served the alumi-
num plant. She added that
sufficient water was “part of
the reason they are here.” She
added, however, that she was
concerned with the quantity
of vapor being discharged by
the current facilities.
“That has increased the
fog level,” she said, and
asked what the impact of
that would be to the regional
airport in Dallesport. “These
new ones are closer, I assume
they're larger, and may put
out even more vapor.
“I can look out and see that
vapor come up, level out, and
move up the river. And on
foggy days, that contributes
to the fog. I hope you keep
that in view as you look at
this,” she said. “But I support
it completely,” she said of the
project.
Mays noted that part of the
permitting process will in-
volve a review by the Federal
Aviation Administration to
look at possible impacts to
the airport.
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