Alpine split leaves Draper out of $14M Meta tax windfall

DRAPER — When the Alpine School District divides on July 1, 2027, the Utah County portion of Draper will become part of Aspen Peaks School District, one of three successors created by two ballot propositions Utah County voters approved in 2024 23. The two large tax deals the district struck with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will not follow it.

Proposition 11 created Aspen Peaks, covering American Fork, Cedar Hills, Alpine, Highland, Lehi and part of Draper; Proposition 14 created Lake Mountain, covering Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield and Cedar Fort; the remaining areas formed Timpanogos, made up of Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and Vineyard 3. The part of Draper that goes to Aspen Peaks is the portion of the city inside Utah County 2.

The tax question turns on geography rather than enrollment. Alpine and other Utah County taxing entities granted Meta tax breaks through tax increment financing agreements, under which a taxing entity returns all or part of its share of new property tax revenue generated by a business to that business for a set period 3. Meta's data center sits inside Lake Mountain's future boundaries, so the revenue it generates is reserved for that district's 24 schools, said Evan Berrett, Eagle Mountain's director of legislative and strategic services 3.

The first agreement dates to 2018, when Alpine agreed to redirect 80 percent of its share of property tax revenue back to Meta, capped at $150 million and running no longer than 40 years 3. The district now collects 20 percent of what the center would otherwise pay it; once the cap is reached, it collects 100 percent, or an estimated $295,300 a year 3. The second was struck last November for an expansion of the Eagle Mountain campus, with Alpine transferring 55 percent of Meta's owed property taxes back to the company under a total of $496 million in tax breaks, again over no more than 40 years 3.

Eagle Mountain's redevelopment agency board approved its own interlocal agreement with Alpine for the expansion on Nov. 18, 2025, on a unanimous vote, covering a Sweetwater #4 project area of about 567 acres south of the existing campus 4. The resolution set a project-wide not-to-exceed total of $493,641,645 and changed the first five years' remittance of annual personal property tax to 63 percent 4.

When both sets of contributions are fulfilled, Meta's campus is projected to generate an estimated $14 million in extra property tax revenue annually 3. Lake Mountain alone will inherit both agreements and is expected to keep participating at the same rates 3.

Aspen Peaks officials do not describe the arrangement as a loss. "We do not frame this as a loss," Aspen Peaks spokesperson Rich Stowell told The Salt Lake Tribune, adding that Aspen Peaks "will have many opportunities with businesses in our community" 3.

Meta has also made direct donations around the split. It gave $600,000 to help Lake Mountain acquire three acres for a future elementary school and $450,000 toward Eagle Mountain's Walden Park Observatory, bringing its total commitment to that project to $700,000; it committed $1.5 million to the Lake Mountain Education Foundation and $50,000 a year to support student learning 1. Eagle Mountain said the donations come from Meta's $1 billion Future is for Everyone Fund, and that the expansion brings the company's total capital investment in Utah to more than $3 billion 1. As part of the 2025 tax agreement, Meta also agreed to a one-time $10,000 donation each to the Timpanogos and Aspen Peaks districts, and a $1.5 million donation to the Lake Mountain district along with $50,000 a year to its foundation for as long as the agreement runs, according to the Tribune 3.

The three districts' boards approved a resource allocation agreement in late June, covering the transfer of employee benefits, student activity funds and foundation accounts, and setting how unassigned money is divided once final enrollment is counted in June 2027 2. Alpine keeps sole responsibility for all schools and assets until the transition begins 2.

The contrast among the successors is already visible. Timpanogos, the smallest, announced a boundary study that could close or consolidate schools before the 2027-28 year, and its officials said the data center revenue is not "sufficient to be the difference in whether or not a school stays open" 3. Lake Mountain, meanwhile, is buying school land ahead of growth 1.

For Draper households, the change arrives with the district boundary: addresses in the Utah County portion of the city will be served by Aspen Peaks from July 1, 2027, while Alpine continues to operate the schools until then 23.