What a difference some noise makes

This site has been hypercritical of the financial terms of deals made by Port Washington and Beaver Dam with Vantage and Meta respectively. Port Washington agreed to give $455M in tax reimbursements to Vantage over 20 years. Beaver Dam magnanimously agreed to $110M in tax reimbursements to Meta.

Public criticisms ensue. Elected officials double down. Critics are labeled uninformed outside agitators.

Then… data center proposal number 2 shows up in Beaver Dam, only this time, the public is watching. And watching closely. And even more irritable thanks to construction woes with Meta.

First iteration of the deal: the developer agrees to buy the city-owned parcel slightly above market rate, agrees to develop a $72M data center on the parcel, and requests $0 in tax reimbursements.

City officials still suggest putting it in a TID … but that’s another crazy story, so maybe another article on that soon, but then something else interesting happens…

Final iteration of the deal, after what the Economic Development Director described as “searching for more win-win” (btw, why do they all talk like that?), magically the developer has agreed to kick in an extra $6.5M to the city at close, on top of the sale price of the land.

V I N D I C A T E D !

Small towns have all the leverage in these deals. And as we’ve said all along, they have none of the expertise to negotiate deals. Port Washington and Beaver Dam both gave away the farm, literally and figuratively, in their initial deals. Imagine how much those tech giants would have paid for the approvals.

Dear Mayor Dark Clouds, this is why the referendum in your city passed: you made a horrible deal and your residents now know it. They took the keys to the car away since you aren’t a responsible driver. Quibble all you want about the text of the referendum, but you’d be advised to admit your error so you can begin to repair the damage you’ve done to the city.