By Doug Kelly:
Amber Phillips’s Aug. 12 The Fix column, “The data center backlash is building,” should have recognized that data centers, when responsibly built and thoughtfully planned, can deliver meaningful benefits to their communities. Data centers present a once-in-a-generation chance to expand tax bases, improve public services and make investments that could benefit residents for decades.
Wells Fargo analysts found that some counties with new data centers are expanding their housing stock by nearly 50 percent and increasing property values by about 14 percent. Data centers are also growing their regional economies by accelerating skilled trade job growth and creating new tax revenue that funds local public services.
Consider Loudoun County in Virginia. CNBC’s Sara Eisen reported that data center tax revenue has enabled the government to lower the property tax rate every year for over a decade.
Or look at Richland Parish, Louisiana, where teachers received $50,000 bonus checks due to increased local sales tax revenue from a new data center.
In Quincy, Washington, data center tax revenue now accounts for nearly 60 percent of property taxes, which has allowed the community to build a new hospital, library, police and fire stations, a state-of-the-art $120 million high school and more. And in Ellendale, North Dakota, revenue from data centers enabled the town to pave streets, renovate the senior center and restore its historic opera house.
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