Effingham promises homeowner tax breaks from part of OpenAI windfall, but there’s millions left

This week, three Effingham County agencies promised lower taxes for homeowners due to part of a windfall from OpenAI. Next week will bring the details — and questions about what to do with the rest of the money expected from a complicated and unfinished transaction.

About $350 million is sitting in the bank account of the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority, since it sold about 1,440 acres in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Rincon to Octans Georgia, OpenAI’s local affiliate.  

That’s a lot of money for an obscure, unelected public board to control.

To put it in context, $350 million would run the whole county school system for more than a year. It’s enough to operate the county itself for four years. 

With part of the money, the development authority proposes waiving the property taxes it collects for 15 years — that’s about $8.6 million per year right now. And it proposes transferring $90 million to the school system and the county over three years so those two agencies can each cut their millage rates as well.

On an owner-occupied home valued at $300,000, the total proposed six-mil cut would amount to a property tax reduction of $720 for at least three years. The school board, development authority board and county commission are all set to work on the details at meetings on Monday and Tuesday.