Lawyer gives insight into Taylor ISD’s deal to Samsung for $ 17 billion plant

TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) – We’re hearing more about the Taylor Independent School District’s deal for Samsung to get the company to build its new $ 17 billion plant in the region.

Officials hope the company’s announcement will arrive soon. An executive is visiting North America and Samsung has said in its application that it wants to start construction in January.

KXAN spoke with one of the attorneys who worked on the Taylor ISD deal to find out more about the incentives they are hoping to get Samsung to call Taylor at home.

“The opportunity for the fabric of the Taylor community to be intertwined with Samsung would be a transformation for our students,” said Superintendent Taylor ISD Devin Padavil about two months ago.

He was pushing for city and county leaders to approve the incentive deals for the possible plant. Now the school district is proposing its own.

“We did our best,” said Kevin O’Hanlon, a lawyer hired as a consultant for Ch. 313 deal negotiations. “We believe and hope it will be located here.”

O’Hanlon says the deal would save Samsung around $ 292 million in gross taxes over 15 years. After additional payments to the school district, that total savings comes to about $ 246 million, he says.

O’Hanlon says Samsung will still pay the school district around $ 46 million during this period. This is money that Taylor ISD is not currently receiving, he says.

“This is a significant gradual improvement in the educational resources that will be made available to children in the district,” he said.

O’Hanlon says Samsung would also still pay full taxes on debt services, like bonds.

“So what happens is that a large facility like this has important values, Is benefit all other taxpayers as well, by lowering their taxes, ”he said.

But he says that could also be balanced along the way if more workers move to the area, bringing their families and creating the need for new ties for new schools.

If Samsung chooses to land at Taylor, it will also need to offer internships to at least 24 Taylor ISD students per year.

This was part of the agreements made by the city and the county in September.

“Our children would grow up here, they could be educated and trained here, work and live in a community with a strong sense of pride and tradition,” Padavil said at the joint city and county meeting in September.

O’Hanlon says he expects a copy of the Taylor ISD deal to be available this week.

Manor ISD was also vying for a deal with Samsung, but the Texas comptroller’s office told KXAN that the Ch. 313 application was withdrawn last week.