Neighbors of a $1.5 billion Meta data center revolt over 183% property tax hike — after the tech company gets a 40-year break

The Utah city hadn’t raised its property tax rate since 2010. Then, on August 6, the city council voted unanimously to raise property taxes by 183%. The increase would raise $5.5 million a year and cost a median household about $255 annually.

The town sits about 40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. It’s also home to a Meta data center that the company says will cost more than $1.5 billion. In 2018, four of the five local taxing entities agreed to waive 100% of Meta’s personal property tax and 80% of its real property taxes for 40 years. Only the school district put a cap on its share.

So when the council asked homeowners to pay more, dozens spoke at the hearing, most of them against it, and some brought up the data center tax breaks. 13 residents filed a referendum to put the increase on the ballot, and the council agreed to reconsider.

What Meta actually pays

The deal that brought Meta to Eagle Mountain waives 100% of the tax on the company’s equipment and 80% of the tax on its buildings. Phase 1 of the tax break is worth $150 million over 20 years. If Meta builds all phases, the total could reach $750 million.

City leaders have argued the trade was worth it. Before the data center arrived, the land brought in $35 a year, then-Mayor Tom Westmoreland said in 2022, and “now it brings in millions even with that tax increment.”

Under Utah law, a new building can count as “new growth” that lets a city collect more than it did the previous year. The servers inside it don’t count, however, so a data center can fill up with billions of dollars worth of equipment without adding to what the city can collect.

Having a giant neighbor doesn’t automatically lower your bill.

Why 183% only costs $255

Utah uses a system called Truth in Taxation. Under the system, as property values rise, the tax rate automatically falls so the city collects roughly what it collected the previous year.

Eagle Mountain has grown to 76,695 residents but hasn’t changed its rate since 2010, so the rate has steadily fallen for 15 years. From such a low starting point, even a relatively modest increase can look enormous as a percentage.

Even the city admitted that its original proposal for a 220.88% increase was accurate. The city says “it looks dramatic because the starting point is so small.”

Residents did the math anyway.

Eagle Mountain doesn’t have its own police department. It pays the Utah County Sheriff’s Office $8,290,200 a year to patrol the city and wants seven more officers, which would cost another $1,507,939.

So residents asked why the city needed $5.5 million.

The city had been paying the sheriff’s office partly with sales tax revenue. City leaders say property taxes should fund policing directly rather than relying on sales tax revenue. Councilman Craig Whiting said that money would go toward “several different hires within the city and wage increases for employees.