COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) - Officials in one Mississippi county are offering nearly $25 million in tax breaks to recruit two large solar farms.
The Commercial Dispatch reports Lowndes County supervisors on Friday voted unanimously to offer the property tax incentives to two companies considering building the installations to supply electricity to the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Each could generate up to 200 megawatts in electricity. Golden Triangle Development Link CEO Max Higgins said the two projects could bring $260 million of initial investment.
One unnamed company, codenamed Honeybee, would invest at least $60 million. A second company, codenamed Moore’s Bluff, would invest between $60 million and $200 million.
Both projects would be larger than the $60 million threshold required in state law for the most generous kind of local property tax abatements, under which governments agree to forgo two thirds of taxes for up to 10 years.
Officials say Honeybee would bring in $120,000 a year in county taxes and $140,000 a year in school taxes during the 10-year abatement. Taxes would total $3.6 million over 10 years, with local governments forgoing $7.2 million.
They say Moore’s Bluff would bring in $400,000 in county taxes and $466,000 in school taxes yearly during the first 10 years. That would be $8.7 million in taxes, with local governments forgoing $17.3 million.
Each project would create hundreds of construction jobs, but could require fewer than five employees in ongoing operations, Higgins said.
TVA would have the final say on whether it would award contracts, Higgins said. The companies say TVA could make a final decision in September or October, he said.
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