How data centers benefit our area
How data centers benefit our area
Our area can’t afford to miss the opportunities data centers provide: jobs, economic growth, tax revenues and community improvement funds.
Our area can’t afford to miss the opportunities data centers provide: jobs, economic growth, tax revenues and community benefits.
1
Data centers mean new jobs.
- Data centers will create thousands of jobs over the typical construction cycle for current workers and help expand training and apprenticeship programs for the next generation.
- Depending on their size, data centers will create 50 to more than 100 permanent jobs and another 150-400 indirect jobs for engineers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC installers and more.
- Multiple data centers in an area can create a tech hub, drawing in tech companies benefiting from the proximity to data centers.
- Studies show data centers increase overall employment in an area by 4-5% and wages by 3-4%.
2
Data centers mean a major injection of new tax dollars.
- A large-scale data center would be the largest property taxpayer in the Metro-East.
- A large-scale data center in DeKalb, Illinois pays over $30 million in property taxes per year.
- DeKalb was able to cut its property tax rate for residents by 47.6% while still having new dollars for community priorities, like law enforcement and schools. Illinois has some of the highest property tax rates in the country and new data centers are the best option we have for property tax relief.
3
Data center projects typically include a community benefit agreement
- Development agreements between a community and a major project like a data center give local leaders the power to get the kind of quality projects their communities deserve. These community benefit agreements maximize the benefits of a project while addressing community concerns. They typically include funding for important community priorities and agreements on things like local hiring, noise restrictions, landscaping, back-up generator protocols and water usage limits.
