SALINE TOWNSHIP – Three days after attempting to limit tax incentives for Oracle’s proposed AI data center campus, the Saline Township Board of Trustees reversed course Friday after township attorneys warned the township would almost certainly lose a lawsuit if it refused to honor the company’s tax abatement request.
The board had voted Tuesday to approve a 12-year, 50 percent Industrial Facilities Tax (IFT) exemption for Oracle’s project, but attached an unusual condition. Trustees sought to limit the tax break to the project’s originally announced $4.811 billion investment, requiring Oracle to pay full property taxes on any future investment above that amount.
By Friday, however, township attorneys advised the board that the restriction violated both the township’s consent agreement with Oracle and Michigan’s Industrial Facilities Tax Act, Public Act 198…