Some Louisiana teachers are getting $50,000 bonuses because of Meta's biggest data center yet — but home costs and car crashes are on the rise

Even at a reduced rate, the data center is paying the parish a life-changing amount of tax. In FY2024-2025, the Richland Parish Tax Commission had a yearly sales tax profit of a little over $21 million.

A single yearly tax payment from Meta totaled more than $22 million.

But the data center, which is planned to be Meta’s biggest one to date, is drastically changing the parish both physically and economically, not all in good ways. Many parish residents aren’t happy. But others think they could learn to live with it if it helps the parish survive.

“Maybe it’s OK for us to grow a data center,” says Dustin Morris, a local farmer who received an offer on his farmland, which sits near the site of the Meta data center. “Maybe this is how we secure our family’s future.”

Here’s what to know about the data center and what it means for local residents.

Meta is still paying far less in sales and property tax than it normally would

Meta is still getting a sizable tax break on its data center, which it expects to cost at least $10 billion.

Louisiana has one of the highest combined state and local sales tax rates, at 9.56%. As part of a deal struck with Richland Parish, Meta doesn’t have to pay any state and local sales tax on its data center equipment for 20 years.

Instead, Meta is paying a one percent sales tax rate directly to the Richland Parish Tax Commission, where it will go on to fund the Richland Parish School Board, the Richland Police Jury, and the parish sheriff’s office.

Meta’s sales tax payments will likely go down significantly once the data center has finished construction.

“Sales tax at that level may be somewhat temporary,” says Scott Franklin, who works as a director at the Richland Parish chamber of commerce.

Once it’s built, the company gets a property tax abatement of 80%, meaning they only pay 20% of the sales tax they’re supposed to, for a set number of years.

In exchange, Meta agrees to employ at least 500 people at the data center continuously.

Richland Parish residents are worried about mounting prices and ecological harm

Not every Richland Parish resident stands to gain from the data center’s construction. And some are already feeling the ill effects of living so close to a gargantuan server farm.

Mayor Friday Ellis, who serves in Monroe, a town neighboring Richland Parish, says he’s heard locals complain about housing costs, construction debris, and an increase of dangerous car accidents.

“Their concerns are real, and they’re personal,” he says. “And I can’t say they’re wrong for having those feelings.”