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Google-NASA Partnership Backlash
Morgalyn writes "Apparently having more jobs moving into the area isn't enough for Santa Clara County. They want some revenue from Google, and are peeved that they are avoiding paying property taxes by building on government land. According to a representative of the county, 'If public land is being used for private purposes, the tenants should be paying local property taxes... We have $30 million in unfunded retirement liabilities. We need the money.' They aren't getting the land for free according to NASA: 'Google will not save any money by building on our property. They have to pay full ground rent based on fair market value and all the municipal-like services we provide like police, fire and garbage.'"
From this morning's San Jose Mercury News (URL: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12 798126.htm )
Is Google's NASA campus a search for a tax break?
By Jessica Portner and Julie Patel, Mercury News
Just how sweet of a deal will Google get by building a major research park on a so-called federal enclave at Moffett Field that sits just beyond the reach of local tax assessors?
Depends on whom you ask and how you slice it.
NASA/Ames Research Center's Michael Marlaire bristles at the suggestion that his agency's planned partnership with Google, unveiled last week, would provide a tax shelter for the Mountain View-based Internet giant.
Terms of the deal are in the works, but Marlaire said Friday that Google would help build the 1 million-square-foot project, upgrade infrastructure, pay fair-market rent and shell out about $4.5 million a year to NASA/Ames for services, such as fire, police, sewage and other utilities.
``I don't want people to think they are coming here for a sweetheart deal. That is not what is happening,'' said Marlaire, Ames' director of external relations. ``Google isn't going to save a dime for coming here.''
The company might pay less, however, if it builds services that other Ames tenants, such as universities and small tech start-ups, could use, he said.
Still, some local officials, such as Santa Clara County tax assessor Larry Stone, say such a setup would cost local taxing bodies like schools, nearby cities and the county up to $3 million in annual property tax revenue.
Google pays about $850,000 in annual property taxes on the 34-acre site it leases in Mountain View for its world headquarters, Stone said. The company would escape paying local property taxes by building its research center and up to 2,000 homes in NASA's research park, which sits on part of the former military base that local taxing bodies can't touch. State and local tax rules are invalid on land classified as a federal enclave.
Bustling neighborhood
NASA/Ames envisions a bustling 95-acre neighborhood to sprout up around the park -- complete with shops, cafes and parks -- where the chatter on the street is nanotechnology and supercomputers. Like a McDonald's and other shops already located on Moffett Field, those retailers also would probably be off-limits for local taxes, Stone said.
NASA has already prepared a 900-page environmental impact report that paves the way for the project. Mountain View officials will watch closely from the city right outside NASA/Ames' gates. But they won't have much say over the process, which the federal government alone controls and laid out in a 2002 study on the proposed mega-R&D campus.
Bayfront property
NASA's review looked at environmental impacts on air, land, water, traffic and storm water, as well as other issues. It calls for on-site housing and bike paths to reduce congestion and pollution, but environmentalists worry that NASA will overlook many of the ecological and traffic issues on the sensitive bayfront property.
``Nothing against Google, but this plan would have significant impacts,'' said Lenny Siegel, executive director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight.
Mike Braukus, a spokesman at NASA headquarters in Washington, said the Google project appears to be the biggest of its kind for NASA, whose leaders say they want to transform Ames into something akin to a Silicon Valley company. The two sides have set a February deadline to arrive at a final deal.
Google would join university research groups and small start-ups that also rent space from Ames. Most pay about $4.50 per square foot a year for police, fire and other services.
Randy Nickel, the founder of Nxar, a start-up software company that rents a tiny workspace of a few hundred square feet at Ames, said his company's one-year lease