Talking Points: Data Centers
The talking points below can be used to speak to the Board of Supervisors at a public meeting regarding the future plans regarding the data center industry in Loudoun.
For more information on this topic, and how to register to speak at the Board meeting, click here or contact Government Relations Manager Theo Stamatis or call 571-209-9021.
Background
- The Loudoun Board of Supervisors is considering a zoning change that would dramatically increase the cost, time and effort required to build new data centers.
- The proposal singles out one industry, the one producing the most net tax dollars for the County.
- This proposal has already damaged Loudoun’s reputation, across multiple industries, as a business friendly location.
- Diminishing the data center industry’s growth will result in:
- Higher taxes for residents already suffering from high inflation.
- Fewer dollars for local priorities, such as schools, affordable housing, and roads.
- Job loss in the data center industry and the ecosystem that support these businesses and their employees.
- Reputational damage, as investors across all industries see how Loudoun treats such an important industry.
Economic Benefits
- The Data Center industry generates over $500 million in tax revenues for Loudoun County.
- The industry was responsible for 22,883 Loudoun jobs in Loudoun in 2021.
- This includes 4,000 workers directly employed by data centers, 12,197 jobs supported by the industry and 6,686 construction jobs.
- The taxes paid by data center companies is enough to fund the entire County operations budget.
- Without those tax revenues, the average Loudoun homeowner would pay between $1,500-$2,000 in additional real and personal property taxes every year.
Community Benefits
- Northern Va. Community College partners with the industry on a 2-year Associate of Applied Science program to train Datacenter Operations Technicians.
- AWS partners with NOVA Loudoun to create a paid apprenticeship program and in 2018 the program graduated its first students into full-time Associate Cloud Consultant jobs.
- These jobs have considerably higher than average pay.
- Over the past two decades, the income of data center employees grew 70% faster than the average private sector employee, to $134,000.
- Data centers are driving investment by other businesses:
- The Irish firm Hanley Energy, which provides energy-monitoring products and services for data centers, is building their U.S. headquarters in Ashburn, creating 170 new jobs.
- Aggreko also established its North American headquarters in Loudoun County to be near their biggest customer: data centers.
- Other Loudoun employers that support the data center industry
- Compu Dynamics (Sterling)
- Rosendin Electric (Sterling)
- Submer (Ashburn)
- Technoguard (Sterling)