Politicians Join State's Largest Teachers' Union to Sue Oregon Municipalities Over Data Center Tax Breaks
Local politicians and Oregon's largest teachers' union have filed a lawsuit against Hillsboro and Washington County, alleging the municipalities improperly approved numerous data center property tax easements. The plaintiffs claim these approvals were rushed and unjust, occurring just before a statewide moratorium on such tax incentives took effect, and seek to block the agreements.
A coalition including local politicians, the Oregon Education Association, and conservation group 1000 Friends of Oregon has filed a lawsuit against Hillsboro and Washington County. The suit, filed in Washington County Circuit Court, alleges that the local governments hastily approved over a dozen applications for data center property tax easements, collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars, just before a statewide moratorium on these incentives for data centers took effect.
The plaintiffs, including Hillsboro City Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair and state nominee Tammy Carpenter, claim that officials approved 17 Standard Enterprise Zone applications in March and April, offering up to 25 years of property tax waivers. They argue that these approvals exceeded the legal intent of the statewide tax program and did not follow proper public notice procedures, extending tax breaks beyond the program's expiration dates. The lawsuit seeks to block these recent approvals, which involve companies like Adobe, Nvidia, Dropbox, and NTT, from moving forward.
Washington County and Hillsboro officials contend they acted in accordance with state law, stating they could not legally reject applications that met existing requirements before the state moratorium was fully enacted. Patrick Preston, a spokesperson for Hillsboro's city manager, indicated that the state legislature did not grant local governments the authority to reject applications during the transitional period. The Oregon Legislature had approved a one-year pause on the Standard Enterprise Zone program earlier this year due to concerns over data center expansion and their significant water and energy demands.