ST. FRANCISVILLE - In West Feliciana, money from a new AI data center could start flowing into the parish much sooner than first expected.

Monday night, the West Feliciana Parish Council and Industrial Development Board both approved a cooperative endeavor agreement between the board, multiple parish offices, and the center's developer, Hut 8, which officials say could bring millions of dollars in just a few weeks.

This comes a month after the parish Industrial Development Board, or IDB, passed a schedule for when and how money it receives from a data center will be distributed throughout the parish.

The IDB will receive funds from the data center through a PILOT program, also known as a payment in lieu of taxes. It's how Hut 8 will pay for the property.

"They had indicated a willingness to front the first PILOT payment, which is really not due until July 1, 2027. We actually put a provision in that PILOT agreement that essentially said we're gonna keep negotiating the details of that prepayment," parish attorney Dannie Garrett said.

Monday night, the board and council agreed to accept the agreement, which will facilitate a prepayment of $10 million from Hut 8 on July 1, 2026, just a few weeks away.

"What it's going to facilitate is that Hut 8 is going to make a $10 million payment to the IDB," Garrett said.

Of the $10 million, $5.3 million will go to the parish school board, $3.9 million to the parish government, and $800,000 to the law enforcement district.

WBRZ asked the parish council what some areas the $3.9 million could be used for.

"Our parish roads are in a terrible situation and with all the rain, because it's been raining up here for the last two months, and we've got more potholes than you can shake a stick at," Council member John Thompson said.

Garrett says the other parties in the agreement, which include the parish school board and law enforcement, will have to sign off before the payment is accepted.

"The sheriff will then do his next week and then the school board's actually meeting tomorrow and will take that exact same document up," Garrett said.

The full payments would start coming annually. In return for the $10 million, the board, law enforcement, and school board agreed to reimbursement obligations, such as if the payment on July 1, 2027, is at or above $30 million, the IDB will distribute an equal amount of the $10 million prepayment to Hut 8.

The council also looked at a potential water line servitude from Hut 8 to the parish's consolidated water works district. It deferred the motion.

"Any time you allow a servitude, you're giving that servitude to a certain entity and you can't do anything on top of it. Well, in that agreement, the wording was saying that they can build sidewalks, and they can build a parking lot. I did not want to have that liability if we had a water leak and we had to go back in there and fix that water leak, and we had to repay or pour more cement or something to repair on top of the servitude that they weren't supposed to build on to start with," Thompson said.