Taxes · Incentives · Community return

What economic benefit actually reaches a community?

The honest answer starts with cash actually retained—not investment announcements, statewide impact multipliers or an abatement’s face value.

Last reviewed: 10 September 2026Source periods: New Albany tax year 2024 · AWS 2024–2026
A defensible local ledgerBegin with taxes and contractual payments actually received. Then account for attributable operating costs, debt service and unreimbursed infrastructure. Keep state incentives and household effects in separate ledgers.

Do not double count

Actual receipts

Property taxes, income taxes, PILOTs, special charges and fees received for a defined period.

Forgone revenue

An abatement compared with a defensible alternative—not automatically a cash expense and not subtracted again if actual net receipts already reflect it.

Public obligations

Roads, substations, water systems, staffing, debt service and other costs, net of developer contributions.

Economic effects

Construction, supplier and household activity may matter, but modeled effects should remain separate from government cash flow.

What New Albany establishes

New Albany reports approximately $10 million in community-development charges from data-center projects for tax year 2024, collected in 2025. It also explains a minimum-payment formula combining TIF, special charges, municipal income tax and PILOT cash payments. That is unusually useful evidence of local revenue mechanics.

It does not by itself establish unrestricted net benefit. The city says a portion services infrastructure debt. Agreement-level receipts and costs are needed to finish the calculation.

What the AWS record establishes

Indiana announced a 50-year sales-tax exemption for eligible AWS investment plus four “up to” incentive programs totaling $98.3 million, alongside an AWS contribution of up to $7 million for road improvements. The state describes the incentives as performance-based. In 2026, AWS-linked reporting said investment had reached $13.8 billion—above the $11 billion baseline—but the underlying eligible-capital and benefit-redemption records remain unreconciled.

ThereforeThe face value of announced incentives is not the amount redeemed. A company-reported $13.8 billion of investment is meaningful delivery evidence, but may not equal audited eligible capital or capital placed in service. The road contribution is “up to,” not a receipt. These fields need separate dates and evidence.

Primary and attributed sources