Data centers are going to pour millions and millions of dollars into Madison County tax coffers every year. The Northside Sun reported:
Madison County took out a $215 million loan from the state to pay for infrastructure improvements for the data center project and it’s making it a priority to pay off the loan as quickly as possible. The county expects to make the first payment of $14.1 million in 2027 and to pay off the loan by 2032, said Gerald Steen, who represents District 3 and serves as president of the Madison County Board of Supervisors. “In the first 10 years after repaying the loan to the state of Mississippi, Madison County, the city of Ridgeland, Holmes Community College, Canton Schools and Madison County Schools are expected to see an average revenue increase of nearly $88.6 million annually and in years 11-20 an average increase of over $190 million annually,” Deason said. Off the top of his head, Deason mentioned “new roads, new bridges, parks, new schools, new school administrative buildings, new athletic accommodations an increase in teacher pay and additional funds for teachers to buy classroom supplies” as possibilities for how the additional revenue might be used. Madison County will begin receiving revenue from the data centers located outside of Canton at the state’s mega site at 1978 Highway 22 starting in 2027. So will the Canton Public School District and Holmes Community College. Ridgeland and the Madison County Schools are set to begin receiving revenue in 2028 after the data centers in Ridgeland go online. The numbers are astonishing: • For the first 10 years the AWS data centers are at the mega site, the Canton Public School District is estimated to receive an average of approximately $23.8 million annually from the fee AMAZON pays in lieu of taxes. That would total about $238 million. • For the second 10 years the data centers are at the mega site, the Canton Public School District would receive an average of about $53.7 million annually. That equals about $537 million. • For the first 10 years the data centers are in Ridgeland, the Madison County Schools would receive an average of $24 million annually from the fee AMAZON pays. That totals about $240 million. • For the second 10 years the data centers are in Ridgeland, the Madison County Schools would receive an average of about $47.73 million annually. That equals about $477 million. • For the first 10 years the data centers are in Ridgeland, Holmes Community College would receive an average of $1.8 million annually from the fee AMAZON pays. That comes to about $18 million. • For the second 10 years the data centers are in Ridgeland, Holmes Community College would receive an average of about $4 million annually. That equals about $40 million. • For the first 10 years the data centers are in Ridgeland, the city of Ridgeland would receive an average of about $8.8 million annually in additional revenue for a total of $88 million spread over 10 years. • For the second 10 years the data centers are in Ridgeland, the city of Ridgeland would receive an average of about $17.5 million annually in additional revenue for a total of $175 million. • Madison County would receive an average of about $30 million annually in additional revenue in the first 10 years for a total of $300 million. • Madison County would receive an average of about $67.5 in additional revenue for the second 10 years for a total of $675 million. Rest of article.
Meanwhile, Jackson takes a powder on data centers even when it has actual investors. Make it make sense.
64 comments:
Takes a powder? Because we don't want data centers in Jackson? There are thousands of cities across the United States that feel the exact same way.
read an excellent article in Rankin County newspaper a week or so ago. They listed all of the pros and cons to data centers. Everybody knows about the pros....money. The cons were powerful, some I had not thought about. I wouldn't want one in my neighborhood.
Madison County won’t see a dime once the bubble pops, and will be out all of the incentive money and have a bunch of abandoned buildings.
I am sure Canton Public Schools will handle all that loot properly. :)
At least it’s Madison county and not hinds county
make sure to get it in writing.
Great clip choice KF!!!
There are so many blighted areas within the Jackson city limits where a datacenter could be located and no one would ever know the difference. What a missed opportunity.
Well, you could always move if one gets built near you.
Jackson like most blue cities are against any type of progress and have no desire to increase its tax base
@5:02 PM
You sound like that Luddite Paul Krugman who said in 1996 that the internet was just a passing fad. The only bubble is on the hardware side. Try to think back to how cheap computers got in the 1980s when Commodore released the C64. Then by 1991 a PC that could play Doom was $3599 again. Then by 2002 you could buy a laptop for $599. Hardware prices are fluctuating. But like the internet, Google, Amazon, cryptocurrencies etc., AI isn’t going anywhere. It’s just going to settle in and find its value in marketplace. It just turns out that China can do it cheaper because they aren’t trying to play the magic money game with AI. So we either compete on price with them or slip up and let them take over.
Maybe Jackson has heard the whole "it'll pay for itself in a few years" thing before.
I'm thinking water billing and parking meters, right off the top of my head.
Data centers are the future of our national security.
It's a race between us and China.
But I'll give the Chi-Coms credit ... as usual, their propaganda is vastly superior to ours.
Like 5:02 said, the only places that will reap the rewards of data center money are the places that already had a boom of them like Virginia, because the bubble is absolutely going to pop and the rest of the states just now getting them will be left with nothing but debt and destroyed land with empty buildings. The only upside is that during the course of construction, the hotels and restaurants around here are absolutely booming. Ridgeland hotels are not only full, but any vacancies are very expensive.
Unfortunately, they are building too many hotels and once the construction stops, they may face a lot more vacancies.
Jackson would have been lucky to get a few data centers three years ago, but nobody wanted to touch anything that Chokeaway was in charge of.
Beef plant? Worldcom? Dotcom? Bernie Madoff? Timber Deeds? All too good to be true. All hype. AI may one day be a profitable thing but to get there many trillions will be wasted. XM radio? Failed billions in satellites which new investors got for a song. Happens way too much.
You and Russ have used your forums to promote data centers what changed?
The ones who will get hurt are the ones that have deals with the small companies. Those who are dealing with the big boys, like AWS, are building on solid ground.
Worldcom wasn't a bubble.
This is all just an Islamic plot to ruin the United States. Once all of our resources have been depleted by these data centers, they will attack and take over.
Add Nissan…
There is a difference between beef plants, WorldComm, and the other examples cited and these data centers. Amazon isn’t exactly in the same league as timber scams. Meta is building the currently largest data center
in the world across the river. These companies are unlikely to invest billions on a mere gamble or Ponzi scheme. I suspect that the planning that goes into these projects is far more sophisticated than a that of a school teacher from Brookhaven, or a local timber scammer like Adams.
Wish I could “like” the 6:01 Luddite comment. Nailed it.
@6:29 Hold your breath until the AI boom busts. We will be rid of another Luddite. The surest sign that this is the real deal is that Madison Co. is all in and Jacktown is all out.
Erick Erickson made a good point recently. He wrote there was a good bit of overbuilding of fiber optic networks in the 90s. Some companies got in trouble over it. However, today all of those networks are in use. Said even if a bubble pops and data centers are overbuilt, need will eventually match capacity.
Where have I promoted them? I'm still learning about them. However, only a fool would ignore the tax dollars they generate.
"These companies are unlikely to invest billions on a mere gamble or Ponzi scheme."
Tell us about the "Meta-verse." You know, the next big thing that Zuckerberg changed Facebook's name for.
The AI boom can be explained by four letters: FOMO, by a handful of people with too much money.
Data centers are 'gain of function' computing. Their primary intent and function are to spy and collect data on everyone.
Paid for content from think tanks and podcasts. All of it is propaganda. Just learning...nah bro use common sense.
The revenue is enticing. Two questions: when the municipalities receive the money will it improve the life of their constituents? Mississippi is not the brightest and negotiations are crucial. Has anyone seen the financing structures of these data centers? What I see reminds me of the 2008 craze when they unloaded structured mortgage debt to the market. It was so structured and convoluted that once you peeled back the layers, you would not invest. There are plenty of people easily enticed with double digit returns and pipe dreams and willing to give away their assets to earn a hyped return. How comfortable do you feel with your negotiators? Negotiations are zero sum games. The smart guys always win.
hmmmmmm I believe they said the same for casinos, and pretty much everything they want to push through. In reality, Madison will likely not see an improvement or a nickel of additional revenue because if a politician is speaking he is very likely lying. We MUST quit falling for this shit at some point.
Give it ten years and Jackson will blame racism for why they didn’t get in on the data center revenues.
Smoke and mirrors, will never happen. Enjoy increased power bills and keeping your thermostat at 80 lol.
So the revenue generated by this data center, it’s going in to some education fund just like we were told would happen with gambling — er, pardon me — “gaming” revenue?
+10,000
Once the money is rolling into Madison County, it won't take ten.
Well, if you bothered to read the post, you would have learned some money is going directly to school districts, some is going to municipalities, and some to counties. Not quite the same as putting it in the big general fund at the capitol.
KF - only a fool would ignore the reality that the data centers are the implementation of a mass surveilance system....but, go ahead - stay distracted by "Look at all that money!". Sigh.
Jackson only has Foote and Hartley to negotiate a business deal with merit. The rest are fools who cannot get the deals of Ridgeland and Madison.
Rankin county has a newspaper? Who would have thunk it.
The supervisor can't wait to spend that money. Spend spend spend. Couldn't they invest the money and spend the dividend? You can always trust a government official to do the wrong thing.
Those against data centers are acting out for purely paid partisan political reasons. And it is based on Elon and being paid by China via some nonsensical NGO. Again, these are many of the same pro environment lunatics that wanted to protect Mother Earth by setting fire to Tesla’s and burning down Pacific Palisades.
Boom
The worst thing about how data centers will affect government is not how the expected money flows will change government finances.
Local governements will borrow against the expected revenues by selling bond issues based on expected long term revenues.
When the data centers fold the damage to the budgets and the taxpayers will be increased due to the leveraged bet on stupid.
One county in VA used the revenue to cut property taxes substantially. Think these clowns are going to do that?
i don't understand why they can't be secluded with their own personal water hole.....well enough away from the population. Is this not possible ? why do they have to be right up everyones hole ?
Smart, fiscally responsible municipalities, like Ridgeland, will not do that. Municipalities like Jackson might be so foolish as to do that.
In the meantime before we know if it was a bubble or not enough, we're generating a lot of work for construction, engineering, electricians, etc. Not every prospector found fortune in the promise and dreams of a gold rush, but there was real money in selling them pick-axes, buckets, boots, and shovels.
On the contrary, 9:54 am, I am against them being in the area. Nothing political about it. The amount of electricity they use will be passed down to the everyday consumer and I don't want that bill. Jackson already has a tedious water system and I don't want one drop going to a data center. The noise generated is very well documented.
KF, the danger in cutting taxes is that, if the data centers fail, a municipality would be faced with a revenue shortfall. I don’t know Virginia’s laws, but by statute in Mississippi, you can only raise property ad valorem taxes by 10% per year. With a severe shortage after a major reduction of tax millage, it could take years to reestablish the tax levy to balance the budget. The municipality would not be able to borrow their way out of the shortage, so they would have to implement austerity measures. What do they cut? Police? Fire? Public works? Do they not pay their debt obligations?
Don’t look for smart, well run Mississippi municipalities to be cutting taxes. Look for them to be replacing and upgrading infrastructure and upgrading community amenities.
Recommended listen: this week's episode of the Plain English podcast covers this discussion from all different angles - pro vs anti, informed vs. uninformed, local vs. national perspectives. Great listen to learn more about the Data Center debate.
Between 2022-23 there was over an 800% increase in newly licensed contractors in our state. The yearly average before that time was 300-350. What caused the drastic increase? Data center deals or illegal immigration? How many of these 'new' contractors are from out of our country? Out of state? This is extremely dangerous for Mississippi homeowners. The SOS has a notice on his website that warns about correct addresses and fraudulent business filings. Seriously. The wrong addresses on how many businesses in our state? Did those 2,900 'new' contractors file for business licenses? It is a total cluster 'F'. Homeowners do not have a chance when they report open corruption to the board of contractors, it is promptly ignored. Only chosen people in Mississippi are allowed to rip off the public.
So Datacenters will finally fully fund schools? I thought the casinos were supposed to keep the schools flush with cash? Guess that didn’t work. Oh, the lottery was supposed to keep the schools flush with cash. But that didn’t work…. So now Data Centers will fully fund schools…. Song sounds familiar….
@August 11, 2026 at 7:56 PM
WorldCom was part of the Dot-Com Bubble. The company’s share prices plummeted as a result of the bubble bursting. In order to hide decreased earnings and stabilize share prices, Sullivan and others cooked the books.
Well we need someone to store and process all that Flock camera data while Palantir builds a dossier on every American soul.
Somehow we turned into the surveillance state we always blamed China for.
Smile for the camera on every corner. You have nothing to hide right citizen?
@12:17 The only people I can get to come do work out on my home are Mexican boys. Local contractors just ghost me because they want that new development work and don't have time for the traditional residence calls. My money still spends but the traditional jobs consider rural homeowners small potatoes.
Ding ding! The lack of intelligence it takes to fall for such obvious anti-data center propaganda on social media by the Chinese is something, but we see it over and over.
Smile for Peter. Your noticing has been noticed and cataloged.
E—n M—k has a much bigger brain than all the luddites and he's always way ahead of the rest.
Prove me wrong!
@1:28 You self-censored the name Elon Musk while also praising him.
Is tin foil in short supply at home?
Do a google search about how aquifers work. Your plot doesn't get it's own little underground water cave, especially for the size needed for these mega-structures.
Same reason the Colorado river rarely ever reaches the sea anymore. Overuse thousands of miles away.
In ten years those buildings will sit mostly unused just like the Canton sound stages during the filming boom. We're always too late and bad at implementation. But damn can we waste some money trying.
The smart money now is on building enough Conestoga wagons with rear platforms so sturdy as to support the obese snake-oil salesmen rolling through the Southern countryside.
Imagine a roundabout where six of these vehicles will merge, their captains wielding buggy whips, fighting for right of way, derringers drawn, rushing toward town to gain public audience.
Yep, good money is on county politicians with twelfth grade educations, economic developers demanding recognition and poor men begging rich men not to stick it in too far.
South to the flat lands
We're goin' South, the rush is on
Way down South (South to Missippi)
Way down South (South to Missippi)
South to the flat lands
We're goin' South, the rush is on
South to Missippi
We're goin' South, the rush is on.
[With apologies to Johnny Horton]
"Smart, fiscally responsible municipalities, like Ridgeland, will not do that. Municipalities like Jackson might be so foolish as to do that."
Is that Mayor Magee or Supervisor Steen weighing in? Meanwhile, the fiscally responsible municipality of Ridgeland has more pawn shops, vaping venues, drive-thru joints, cartel gas stations, Mexican restaurants and apartment dwellings than any city in our state.
The sounds of gunfire and Dodge chargers would drown out the noise of data centers in Jacktown.
people that against data centers are typing their displeasure on a website hosted in......a data center. There are 12,000 data centers across the planet. Every website you visit is hosted in one. Every app on your smart phone is hosted in one. Data centers aren't the boogy man
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