Shakopee's City Council remains willing to offer a Texas firm a deal aimed at attracting its first data center.
The council voted last month to offer Compass Data Centers a package that includes a 50 percent rebate in property taxes — up to $251,000 worth over nine years — in exchange for 40 new jobs in a city whose residential development has lagged.
The firm later said it has downsized plans for the Dean Lake area from about 110,000 to about 90,000 square feet, coupled with a drop in the anticipated number of jobs from a tenant interested in the building to just 18.
The average salary, though, would be $68,000, the sort of family-supporting income the city is eager to attract.
The question then became the city's willingness to continue to bargain, and the council agreed last week to do so.
It was a close vote, though, just 3-2, with Matt Lehman and Jay Whiting dissenting, on the question of offering an additional deal on sewer attachments as an extra incentive.
David Peterson
dapeterson@startribune.com
