Google was recruited to Oklahoma with the help of what is known as the manufacturing ad valorem exemption. It’s a state-sponsored business incentive, approved by Oklahoma voters in 1985, that exempts certain types of business investment from property taxes for five years.

During that time, the business pays taxes on the original value of the property, and state taxpayers pick up the tab for what the business would have paid on the additional value of the new or expanded capacity.

These payments are made to local governments — primarily school districts and county government — through what is known as the ad valorem reimbursement fund.

From the time Google opened its first data center in Pryor in 2011, the local school district’s total assessed property valuation grew to $325.6 million in 2015, an increase of 168 percent, the Tulsa World reported in May. Over that same span, Mayes County’s assessed property valuation ballooned to $498.4 million, a rise of 82 percent.