The DeKalb Park District didn’t include the Meta Data Center as a taxable property for tax years 2022 and 2023. The nearly 2.4 million square feet data center campus was left out in the district’s boundaries.
Park officials did not disclose how much revenue was lost. The amount taxing bodies received in tax year 2022, 2023, ranges from $37,675 for the Afton-Pierce Multi-Township to $9.5 million for the DeKalb School District 428, according to a DeKalb City analysis.
The DeKalb Library District received $639,867 dollars in total.
After a recent Park District Board meeting, DeKalb Park District Board President Dag Grada took questions from DeKalb activist Mark Charvat.
Charvat: “So, are we getting the benefits of Meta now?”
Grada: “We will. Annexation was filed this spring when the error was discovered. We also reviewed everything that the city is annexed in the past five years and caught up with a couple of odds and ends, some easements and so forth.”
For tax year 2024, the board passed a 23 percent decrease in its tax rate, from 0.6489 to 0.4986. Even so, it does expect to receive about a quarter more in tax revenue due to new tax dollars from the Meta Data Center.
In fiscal year 2023, the district generated an estimated $5.3 million and for tax year 2024, the district expects about $6.6 million in tax revenue, according to the park district.
Charvat has been following the various taxing bodies and their votes on the tax rate for the 2024 fiscal year.
He said the park district, like other entities, ought to be careful on how they plan ahead with tax revenues received from the Meta Data Center.
“Everybody is going to get a huge windfall right now," he said, "but I'm just worried that everybody is going to start budgeting thinking, ‘We're going to get this every year.' That's not the case."
META received a 55 percent tax break as part of the Enterprise Zone Tax abatement program, which is a state initiative. The tax discount lasts for 20 years. It goes into effect in the 2025 taxing year. So, taxing bodies may see a decline in revenue from Meta the following tax period.
