Data Center Lessons from Loudoun County, Va

Mike Turner, welcome to IHIT Politics.

Happy to be here, Sunil.

You have written a white paper on the lessons from Loudoun for data center policy for the rest of us.

What are your takeaways?

I guess, in a nutshell, particularly given the national How shall I refer this? I want to say hysteria, but that has a negative connotation.

But yeah, okay, that's what it is.

I have firmly believed that there is nothing inherently good or bad about data centers.

They are a thing.

And it is up to the local governing body to establish the guardrails and the managerial criteria and the restraints on the development of data centers in that particular community.

You're obviously seeking a balance between the cost and the benefits of data center.

Has Loudoun achieved the right balance?

I would say, overall, yes, but it's a caveated yes.

You have to remember, we were the first.

We're the most mature data center community in the world.

We've got 53 million square feet of data centers, 253 built on the ground.

We got another bunch that are in the pipeline that may or may not get built.

Our projected fiscal 27 budget is $2.9 billion in local tax revenue.

That's basically our county's operating budget, $2.9 billion in revenue.

And of that, $1.3 billion is going to be data center revenue, about 45%.

We have the lowest property taxes in DC metro area by about 25%.

They cost the county about $0.04 for every dollar of tax revenue they bring in and the normal business, small business will cost about $0.25 for every dollar of revenue.

They don't put cars on our roads.

They don't put kids in our schools.

We've been the fastest growing county.

We're not anymore, but we were for about 20 years, the fastest growing county in Virginia, one of the fastest growing in the United States.