Effingham County's industrial development authority signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement with OpenAI on February 2, then spent five months negotiating in private before the county signed a memorandum of understanding with Octans GA LLC, an OpenAI affiliate, on July 21.
The public announcement came the next day. Records obtained by WTOC show the deal was worked out by IDA CEO Brandt Herndon, Vice President Jessica Hood, County Manager Tim Callanan and School Superintendent Yancy Ford.
The tax terms are unusual even by data-center standards. Georgia normally assesses property at 40% of fair market value; this deal locks OpenAI's assessment at 25% for 15 years per project phase, a 37.5% annual cut, with the tax rate frozen at 2026's millage.
After 15 years, OpenAI can buy the property back from the county for $10. The project itself, five phases on 1,400 acres at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub outside Rincon, is unchanged from what cleared last week: four buildings, 3.2 gigawatts of Georgia Power capacity delivered 2028 to 2032, construction starting late 2028 and running through 2034.
Residents who found out after the fact are the story now. "If it's such a great thing for this area, why isn't it being done out in the open?" resident Wade Britt told WTOC. County Manager Callanan defended the secrecy as standard for a deal of this size, pointing to the jobs and to a promised cut in homestead property taxes of up to 40%.
Why it matters
The tax mechanics mean OpenAI pays 37.5% less than a normal Effingham property owner for 15 years, then can buy the land back for the price of a cup of coffee, and county officials agreed to all of it before residents were allowed to know it was happening.
What to watch
The building moratorium clock keeps running toward 2028 groundbreaking; whether Effingham publishes future incentive deals before signing, not after, is the open question this story leaves behind.
Sources and documents5 sources
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