An Ohio school cut Anduril's tax bill by $60 million, then asked homeowners for $74 million
Teays Valley's board cut Anduril's property-tax bill by at least $60 million the morning after the Arsenal-1 announcement, then watched homeowners refuse $74 million for classrooms. Anduril has paid nothing so far, and the shares investors buy at its $61 billion valuation rest on a cost base of tax breaks Ohio's politics has begun repricing.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
The board voted the morning after the announcement
Ohio's governor announced Anduril's Arsenal-1 weapons plant on 16 January 2025 1. Hours later, the treasurer of the Teays Valley school district near Columbus asked his board to meet at 8 the next morning, and it voted unanimously to cut the company's property taxes by at least $60 million, in fixed payments stretching to 2065 1. The district's students were already studying in hallways and rented trailers 1.
Homeowners hold the other ledger
Voters had rejected a $96 million classroom bond in 2024 1. Months after the Anduril vote, a slimmed $74 million retry lost in May, with 68 percent voting no 1. Anduril, worth $61 billion after a May funding round that doubled its valuation 2, has paid the district nothing under the deal so far, its treasurer says 1. That $61 billion mark prices Arsenal-1's promise, and the plant's Ohio cost base runs through tax breaks a legislature can rewrite.
The fine print buys room
The contract's job promises are softer than the launch. The 4,008 positions are a "good faith estimate," not a material obligation; the enforceable clause requires one $50,000 job per 5,000 square feet, roughly 1,000 jobs on a five-million-square-foot campus 3. Anduril's own pre-announcement manifesto foresaw 1,500 workers 3. The site employed 133 as of July 4.
The tax deal binds Anduril to a quarter of the jobs it pitched
- Estimate
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Announced pitch | 4,008 |
| Anduril's own plan | 1,500 |
| Contract floor (est.) (estimate) | 1,000 |
| On site, July 2026 | 133 |
The math against the talking points
District talking points put the schools' loss at $60 million. Inkstick's calculation on the agreement's own formula points far higher: at full build-out the plant would owe about $10.3 million a year in property tax, roughly $309 million over 30 years, against about $0.9 million a year in payments to the two school districts 3. Matter News, which obtained the district's records, is the only outlet to report them; the district and the company declined comment on the estimate 13.
The calculated 30-year loss to schools dwarfs the district's $60 million figure
- Estimate
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Property tax owed, 30 yrs (calc.) | $309M |
| District's stated loss | $60M |
| Payments to schools, 30 yrs (calc.) (estimate) | $27M |
The plant is real, and so is the gap
Anduril told county officials the plant "would not move forward in Ohio" without the breaks 1, and it is building: the $900 million campus rolled out its first Fury combat drone in July 4 and is now adding a fourth production line, the Altius-600 5. The politics is turning anyway. DeWine paused new data-center tax exemptions in May, one of roughly 10 states pausing, narrowing or repealing such breaks 67, and 138 Ohio municipalities and townships have passed their own moratoriums 8.
Ashville decides next whether $77 million buys a yes
Each new Anduril building through 2035 can claim its own 30-year exemption 3. Anduril is private, so the tradable exposure is employee and early-investor shares sold at the $61 billion valuation, and buyers of that paper inherit a factory whose costs lean on subsidies a state has begun repricing next door. In November, Ashville votes on the data-center power plant whose $77.4 million school donation the same board accepted in April 3. "We are going to be dead by the time these things are done," said Pari Sabety, a former state budget director 1.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
