After a contentious more than five-and-a-half-hour meeting Monday, the Independence City Council voted to give billions in tax breaks to a massive data center on the eastern edge of the city.
The 90% tax abatement gives $6.26 billion in tax breaks over 20 years to Nebius, a Netherlands-based technology company that builds and operates large-scale cloud computing infrastructure that it calls “AI factories.” The company plans to make the nearly 400-acre Independence campus its flagship facility in the U.S.
The council approved the tax breaks 5-2, despite hours of testimony and a coordinated opposition effort from residents against the data center. Now, those residents will try to force a public vote so the community can weigh in on whether to give the money to Nebius.
Bridget McCandless, an at-large council member and mayoral candidate, spoke at the meeting about her decision to support the incentives. Speaking to the crowd, she said that all of her questions about the data center campus were answered to her satisfaction and that the Chapter 100 incentives provide protections for the city.
“It is hard to think that you would imagine that we don't think about our community, that we don't care about our community,” McCandless said. “We live here too, and we want the best for Independence. I know that there are 150 people in the room tonight, some of you for, some of you against. We have 120,000 people that we have to think about when we make these kinds of decisions.”
Mayor Rory Rowland and Brice Stewart, who represents the district where the data center would be built, were the only votes against the incentives.
When the project is completed, the campus off of Route 78 and Little Blue Parkway will be about 2.1 million square feet and have a planned capacity to use about 800 megawatts of energy at a time. That’s enough to power about 400,000 Independence homes for a year, according to the city.
A Nebius spokesperson said the center's total capacity, including reserves, could be up to 1.2 gigawatts. That amount is equivalent to the electricity produced by the Hoover Dam in 2.5 years.
“We appreciate the City Council’s vote tonight and are grateful for the backing from education, labor, and business leaders, as well as the broader Independence community,” John Sutter, a spokesperson for Nebius, said in a statement. “Our AI factory is purpose-built to fit in — from design to construction to operation, we’re focused on being a good community partner and are excited to move forward with our project that will deliver broad economic, education, and community benefits.”
The Chapter 100 tax exemptions give the city the legal title to Nebius’ property and equipment. In return, the city will get payments in lieu of taxes. After Independence’s 90% tax abatement on up to $150.6 billion in property and equipment for 20 years, Nebius will pay around $651.5 million.
The money would be split between the affected taxing jurisdictions. Interim City Manager Lisa Reynolds said the city will also get an estimated $30 million annually based on revenue from the data center’s usage of city-owned utilities like water, sewer and electricity.
Opponents of the project — most of whom have gathered in a Facebook group called “Stop the AI Data Center in Independence” — are worried about the data center’s impact on the environment and residents’ safety. Nebius’ campus will be close to the Little Blue River and a nature trail that goes alongside it, as well as an eagle nest. The data center will also be just a couple of miles from two elementary schools and the Lake City Ammunition Plant.
The group’s nearly 3,000 members, many of whom spoke against the tax breaks at Monday’s meeting as well as at previous city council meetings and town halls, also think the abatements are a bad deal for the city. The $651.5 million is far less than the $6.9 billion the city would receive without the tax exemptions.
Daniel Morehead and his family live off Bly Road, which neighbors the project site. He urged city council members at the meeting to either reject the incentives or delay the vote.
“This vote is not an abstract,” Morehead said. “It affects residential property values, cost of living and quality of life. Citizens will remember how you balance city growth against citizen stewardship; they'll remember whether risk was imposed on them without enforceable protection.”
Despite the more than 45 people who spoke out against the data center Monday, the project had the backing of the Independence School District, which stands to gain more than $463 million over two decades and whose school board passed a resolution supporting the project last month. The Independence Chamber of Commerce and many local labor leaders also championed the project.
Supporters said the city would not get any of the tax money without the incentives. At an earlier city council meeting, a representative for Nebius said the company would likely not continue to build in Independence without the incentives. While the property would be worth about $6.9 billion in taxes over 20 years if the project goes as planned, it would only be worth $55,000 over the same time period if nothing is developed.
Many experts don’t agree that tax breaks for data centers are a good deal. Studies have shown that long-term tax subsidies do not provide local growth in the economy or in tech employment.
Good Jobs First, a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on strengthening economic development deals and accountability in city incentives like this one, urged the city council in an open letter to vote against the tax breaks.
“There is no demonstrated reason Independence must surrender nearly all of its property tax base,” Good Jobs First wrote in the letter. “Independence controls valuable assets. It should use that leverage to reduce the abatement levels, shorten their duration, backload tax breaks based on performance, and consider excluding or phasing out certain equipment from exemption.”
Nebius plans to begin construction on the campus later this year.
Rachel Gonzalez, a leader of the opposition group, said they plan to launch a referendum petition against the incentives. The group is meeting at the Independence Municipal Commons Tuesday morning to get the required signatures to start the referendum petition. That would require 3,700 signatures from registered Independence voters within 30 days of the vote.
If the petition is successful, voters would weigh in later this year on whether to allow the incentives to continue for Nebius. But before that vote would be scheduled, Independence residents will vote on mayoral and city council candidates. Many voters who are against the data center have said candidates’ stances on the project will sway their vote April 7.
Until then, opponents plan to gather early Tuesday morning to kick off the petition drive, and hope to turn in their intent to file a referendum petition with the city clerk the same day.
“I think a lot of us have moved on from being sad, and now we're just angry,” Gonzalez said. “We are angry that our City Council heard 49 speeches tonight against the data center from different concerns. It seems like our city council is just looking at the potential dollar signs from this project, and they don't have any real protections for the people that live here.”
