Google’s $15 Billion Missouri Data Center Sparks Tax Transparency Debate
Google will invest $15 billion in a rural Missouri data center, but residents question a 70% tax break deal made without public input.
HIGH HILL, MISSOURI — Google announced Wednesday it will invest $15 billion in a data center in rural Montgomery County, joining Amazon in a large development project that has raised questions about tax abatements and public transparency.
The tech giant will build its facility south of Interstate 70 near New Florence, a town of fewer than 700 people, as part of a 5,000-acre industrial megasite. Amazon Data Services is already constructing a data center north of I-70 on the nearly 2,000-acre development site.
Local officials are preparing to offer Google a 70% personal property tax abatement, though key details about the tax agreement won’t be discussed until a June 8 hearing. The arrangement has drawn criticism from some residents who say they were excluded from discussions that should have been conducted in public.
Federal Funding Enabled Development
The data center project became possible after Montgomery County received a $5 million federal pandemic recovery grant to prepare the rural industrial site. Missouri lawmakers had appropriated $27.5 million in federal COVID-19 recovery funds in 2023 for industrial development, and the Missouri Department of Economic Development awarded the county the grant to establish “shovel-ready industrial sites” to attract major investors.
Google President Ruth Porat, Governor Mike Kehoe and Montgomery County commissioners gathered in High Hill for Wednesday’s announcement. Supporters of the project say it will bring construction jobs, permanent positions and millions in annual tax revenue to a county where many residents currently commute east for work.
Residents Demand Public Input
Some Montgomery County residents voiced concerns during a May 6 meeting hosted by Preserve Montgomery County LLC in New Florence, demanding to know why the county never brought the development to a public vote.
“That’s not how this works,” said Presiding County Commissioner Ryan Poston in response to the demands for a public vote.
Governor Kehoe acknowledged some residents’ concerns about electricity prices and environmental impacts during the announcement but said Google had “done [the] work to ensure that their growth does not come at the expense of the community this center calls home.”
Broader Statewide Concerns
Data centers have sparked public opposition elsewhere in Missouri, with voters in some communities rejecting similar proposals due to concerns about infrastructure strain and tax incentives. The Montgomery County project represents one of the largest technology investments in rural Missouri.
The June 8 hearing will provide the first public discussion of specific revenue projections and tax forgiveness amounts associated with Google’s 70% personal property tax abatement. County officials have not yet released details about how much tax revenue the county would collect annually or how much it would forgo under the proposed agreement.
The Amazon and Google data centers will occupy separate portions of the industrial megasite, with Google’s $15 billion investment representing a significant economic development for the rural county along the Interstate 70 corridor.
