Economic expert: model shows long-term tax revenue, presents district-level estimates

During redirect, the applicant’s counsel questioned the project's economic expert about the tax model and projected local revenues. The expert said the model’s projected tax revenues reach a low point at year 18 and then rise through year 40; he described 'new money' as state-allocated additional school funding and said the wind project’s tax contribution would be substantially larger than the 'new money' allocated to some districts under current formulas.

The witness provided district-level figures in his testimony: he confirmed a fiscal‑2026 estimate of about $11,000 in 'new money' for Stark County and said the wind project’s tax revenue would be roughly $27,000 in the same context. He said Princeville’s year‑1 model shows about $5,000,000 flowing to the district, compared with a most-recent publicly available budget figure of a little over $11,000,000; he also gave year‑1 estimates of just under $250,000 for the Akron and Princeville Fire Protection District and over $364,000 for the Lily Evans Library. The expert said his company verified tax-record methodology across parcel records and that earlier work for a Macon County project produced results "within 5% of the estimates that we had presented," which he offered as confirmation of the model’s reliability.