In 2014, Republican Governor Brian Sandoval led a group of lawmakers to give a tax incentive package to attract the world's most valuable automaker to Northern Nevada.

The state offered Tesla over $1 billion in tax breaks to construct its Gigafactory at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in Storey County.

The growth has created major infrastructure challenges in the region. Nonetheless, according to Storey County Manager Austin Osborne, the 2014 $6.2 billion Tesla deal helped turn Northern Nevada into a center for energy, development, more manufacturing, and higher-paying careers.

"There's going to be pros and cons to everything, but you look at the decisions that were made ten years ago, and it's an investment," said Storey County Manager Austin Osborne. 

Now those 2014 tax abatements are ending.

To start, Tesla will need to begin paying its property taxes to Storey County later this year.

Osborne says the first line of business is paying back investments in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center. KUNR's Lucia Starbuck breaks it down in the longform "Purple Politics Nevada" podcast.  

"We have to pay that back to the developer. There's $90 million more that the county has, and future infrastructure that is master planned and contracted at the Tahoe Regional Industrial Center for future growth," explained Storey County Manager Austin Osborne. 

Fixing Nevada's Development Problem: TRI Team Takes Fight to Congress

Property taxes will fund infrastructure dating back to 1860. Storey County lacks modern road infrastructure, and the roads are paved over dirt roads that have existed for over a century. Osborne also points out that buildings used by Storey County are over a hundred years old.

"We have water infrastructure in Storey County that was put in just after the time that Nevada became a state," said Osborne. 

TESLA CONTINUES GETTING HELP FROM NEVADA

During the 2023 Nevada Legislature, lawmakers and the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) approved the same 2014 tax incentive package for Tesla's planned $3.6 billion expansion at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center.

While some people believe the move is worth stimulating economic growth, others are critical of giving Tesla more tax breaks.

Nevada Independent Political Columnist Michael Schaus told us, "Tesla is already here, Tesla already has every incentive, natural incentive in the world to be here and expand their presence here in Nevada, giving them 330 million dollars really did not feel necessary."

Schaus also points out that the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) unilaterally approved the 2023 Tesla expansion tax package with no legislative oversight. 

"The two big concerns with what happened in 2023 are the fact that there was very little oversight, it was triggered kind of automatically from the 2014 law, so the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) did it with no input from the Legislature, let alone members of the public," said Schaus. 

Democratic lawmakers have indicated that they would like to address this matter in the next regular session.