Iowa responds to late project giving Apple $200 million in public subsidies: ‘It’s just sponsorship’

Waki, Iowa – residents of Des Moines Suburb has criticized a government agreement with Apple that gave the tech giant $200 million in public subsidies for a project years behind schedule.

A man from Waki ​​told Fox News, “It’s not fair. They don’t give me anything.” “I go there as a citizen, as one person, they will not listen to me.”

Apple reached an agreement with state and local officials in 2017 that gives the tech giant $213 million in public benefits for 50 permanent jobs in a data center it will build in Waukee. Residents criticized the agreement for its lack of transparency and for being unfair.

“I don’t think that’s true,” a Waukee resident told Fox News. “Small businesses in Waukee should get that kind of comfort, not huge conglomerates.”

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Apple that has reached the market value of 3 trillion dollars in Januaryplanned to open the data center in 2020, according to the company Initial Announcement. Apple now plans to complete the project in 2027, according to Des Moines Record.

Brad Deets, assistant city manager for Waukee, described Apple as “a wonderful corporate partner for our community.” He has repeatedly directed Fox News to Apple to ask specific questions about the agreement.

Apple declined to comment on how the agreement would help Waukee residents. The company also declined to comment on questions about the deal’s financial incentives, negotiation process and promises to the city.

“We are proud to be part of the community in Waukee, and our many contributions to the city, including contributing more than $5.5 million to local projects like the new Triumph Park,” Apple representative Rachel Wolf Tulley told Fox News. She said the project will add hundreds of construction jobs and that the company hopes to start work in the coming months.

Apple’s contributions account for about 2.6% of the benefits it received. She has promised to donate up to $100 million to the city’s public improvement fund.

Apple CEO Tim Cook The 2021 compensation package of $98.7 million was larger than Waukee’s entire budget last year.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook
(Getty Images/iStock)

Questions surrounding the agreement

Negotiations on the agreement remain shrouded in secrecy more than four years after the announcement.

The state released details of the agreement just 90 minutes before the board meeting to approve the plans, and Des Moines Record mentioned. Set aside 10 minutes for general comments.

2017 agreement gave an Apple 71% property tax cut for 20 years worth $188 million, According to Des Moines’ record. The city and state also agreed to pay for the water and wastewater infrastructure that the data center would need.

Deets said he could not provide details of the financial incentives offered to Apple.

“That’s probably a question that should be asked of Apple,” Deets told Fox News. “Apple has been the person to turn to in terms of explaining those incentives.”

Apple refused to answer these questions.

Dave Swenson, an economic research scientist at Iowa State University, called the agreement a “political decision.” This is a way for public officials to “pat their backs and pretend they are playing an active role in economic growth,” he told Fox News.

“Just a luxury”

“These data centers get exceptional tax breaks,” Swenson said. “Tax credits not available to other types of businesses, and tax credits that do not apply to existing businesses that are already operating and paying their taxes.”

“It’s just a luxury,” one citizen told Fox News. “Maybe Wookie would have been fine without it.”

Residents also criticized the agreement, saying 50 jobs aren’t enough to justify $200 million in public subsidies.

“For the fifty people who are going to work at this facility…that doesn’t make any sense,” a local employee at a hardware store told Fox News.

Waki residents at the Heartland Co-operative criticized the agreement.

Critics and advocates alike have cited Iowa’s natural resources and landscapes as significant attractions to data centers. Opponents said the subsidies were unnecessary with such underlying incentives.

Iowa’s energy costs, land prices, natural climate and lack of earthquakes contribute to Silicon Valley’s investment in the state, according to Senator Joe Bolcom.

“We have natural incentives in place,” Bolcome told Fox News. He described the financial benefits as “gifts to these ultra-wealthy companies”.

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“Evidence suggests that approximately 70 to 75% of all public funds that have been devoted to stimulating business were unnecessary and unnecessary. It did not affect the decision to locate at all,” Swenson said.

Iowa State University research scientist Dave Swenson

Swenson also said that corporate subsidies hurt public resources.

If Apple isn’t “paying its fair share of taxes … then everyone else – all things being equal – should pay more, or everyone else has to satisfy themselves with fewer public goods,” he told Fox News.

Deets said the city’s population has increased 75% over the past 10 years, and Waukee Community School District Director Brad Buck said he expects enrollment in local schools to increase 24% in the next five years.

Wookie schools He had a shortfall of $70 million in 2021, and Yeah He has accumulated debts of nearly $800 million, according to the most Recent budget summary.

Waukee Assistant City Manager Brad Deets

Deets hopes the Apple project will attract similar companies.

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“We always see development begetting another one, and we fully expect as Apple starts building, there will be other like-minded businesses that will be centered in the city,” he told a local. A subsidiary of CBS.

Swenson said the attraction could cost Ewan. He described the subsidies as a “permanent supply” that Iowa would have to meet for future corporate agreements, suggesting that major tech companies expect to receive at least as much public funding as Apple did to build a data center in the state.

“The hole they dug, the public will never be compensated,” Swenson said. “This is a pure and unadulterated subsidy.”