Senate Bill 241 proposes an amendment to the existing tax incremental financing (TIF) laws in Wisconsin, specifically regarding tax incremental districts (TIDs) that include qualified data centers. Currently, there is a limitation that the equalized value of taxable property in a new or amended TID, combined with the value increments of existing TIDs, cannot exceed 12 percent of the total equalized value of taxable property in a city or village. This bill seeks to exempt TIDs containing qualified data centers, as certified by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), from this 12 percent rule, provided that all project costs associated with the TID are related to the data center.
The bill introduces new legal language that defines a "data center" and a "data center district," and outlines the conditions under which the 12 percent limit does not apply. Specifically, if a data center district's project costs are solely related to the data center, the 12 percent findings requirement will not be applicable for the creation or amendment of the district's project plan. Additionally, any project plan that is exempt from the 12 percent requirement cannot be amended to include unrelated project costs, and local legislative bodies must exclude the value increment of any data center district from their calculations when determining compliance with the 12 percent limit.