The True Cost of Data Centers
The economic “benefits” of data centers have become death sentences for many communities; towns with several large data centers have found their budget unable to even fund their local fire department.
A business that must operate in darkness and use scare tactics “if you don’t act now” is a walking red flag. Unfortunately, many residents in Barber County feel unheard and betrayed by their leaders. Local elections matter. Make sure you know what stance your candidate has concerning data centers.
Barber County commission voted to bring in a hyperscale facility stating it will bring in 300-500 full-time jobs. The contract conditions state: Google shall attempt to use local labor, vendors, and businesses when commercially reasonable and Google shall host at least one job fair. There was no written expectation released that contained an expectation of the number of jobs created.
Data centers tend to overinflate the number of local full-time jobs it will create. A pro-data center advocacy group in Virginia found data centers actually create very few permanent jobs- and these jobs have come at significant cost. According to their figures, it cost $16.7 million in investments to create a single data center job. This is compared to the cost of $137,000 to create 1 job outside of the data center sector. Most of the jobs created will be low-wage, non-technical, contract positions such as security, maintenance, and janitorial.
Many communities are finding that the steep cost of bringing in data centers has harmed their communities. Virginia reported losing $1.6 billion in sales and tax revenues in FY2025 – an increase of 118% from FY2024. Georgia expects to lose $2.5 billion in FY2026 – 664% higher than the estimated $327 million. Many states will not disclose the financial impacts of their data center incentives
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Local elections matter! I support a moratorium on data centers while my opponent supports "rolling out the red carpet" for them. Help me get elected to the Sedgwick County Commission by donating to my campaign at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/sarah-mcmillen-1
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