A group of faith leaders is calling on Microsoft to give the community more money as it builds its Granger data center.
We Make Indiana will hold an unusual press conference Thursday to dramatize their cause. Part of the media event will happen on a Transpo bus, as Transpo shrinks routes amid recent funding cuts.
The nonprofit group of clergy and faith leaders say that since the Indiana General Assembly has exempted data centers from sales tax, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars a year, Microsoft should enter into a “Fair Share Agreement” to pay into a community fund.
The group includes Ken Miller Rieman, pastor at Prince of Peace of the Brethren on the corner of Cleveland and Ironwood in South Bend.
Rieman stand up :15 … “Frankly the state government is robbing from our families in order to give to the super-rich corporations building data centers in St. Joe County. So we want our county leaders to stand up and fight for us to win a fair share agreement.”
Rieman says a county official and a Microsoft public relations representative recently met with the group at his church but it’s not enough.
Rieman not enough :19 … “It’s nice that Microsoft would give a few thousands dollars to some good nonprofits doing great work but what our county needs is millions of dollars, right, and what our county is losing is millions of dollars. That’s what the state legislature is gifting to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, so we’re talking about something structurally very different.”
