The Digester

State and local leaders are rethinking incentives for data centers amid questions about weak job creation, rising power demand, and whether the land could produce broader economic benefits.

Critics say large data centers deliver limited local economic benefits and that incentives are often unnecessary.
New Albany uses a payment in lieu of payroll tax to capture revenue from data centers when few jobs are created on site.
Data centers raise electricity demand and expose weaknesses in utility accounting, creating risk that infrastructure costs could fall on household customers.
A 350-acre example shows a data center site with about 70 jobs versus an industrial park on similar land employing roughly 2,070 people, highlighting the opportunity cost of land use.

Ohio data centers draw growing backlash over jobs, power and land use

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