Opinion: PW Digital Gateway will lower tax burden on homeowners, fund schools

Data centers present a unique and exciting opportunity to enhance the lives of every single citizen of Prince William County by growing our commercial tax base, improving our schools, fixing our roadways and infrastructure, and increasing funding for first responders.

I have children in our school system, I drive our roads every day, I support local law enforcement and fire and rescue, I pay property taxes, and all of these endeavors are costing more and more money every year. We all know that we cannot just sit back while our student/teacher ratio keeps climbing. Our roads get more crowded, and our first responders continue to be stretched thin.

For years, there has been debate about finding more of a balance between the residential and commercial tax base. The county has identified an aggressive goal of a 35% commercial tax base, which is achievable. Still, it will require a change in approach when it comes to delineating where, and determining how we allow our commercial partners to operate.

Our taxes keep going up year after year, and it continues to impact every one of us, especially our senior citizens who live on a fixed income and the families who are doing their best to get by on lower wages.

If we are serious about growing our commercial tax base, then we need to approve the PW Digital Gateway CPA. This opportunity presented by several neighborhoods and residents who have banded together and made this request to the county should be taken seriously.

The latest analysis by Prince William County staff shows that if the project is approved, the total economic impact for the county over 20 years will be nearly $25 billion, with over $4 billion of that coming in the first five years. That is a huge number that will inject our local economy with new jobs, new infrastructure, and, most importantly, new commercial tax revenue.

Based on the county’s conservative projections, over $400 million new dollars per year would go to the county budget. That is precisely the kind of funding stream that our various county departments, programs, projects, and initiatives could desperately use.

The PW Digital Gateway would indisputably significantly boost our commercial tax base. More than half of the newly generated tax revenue would go directly to our education system. The rest would go to our roads, parks, public safety, and other core functions of government that need new investment.

The modern-day data center industry has made tremendous improvements by using technology and new construction techniques to become environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing. The data centers of today are no longer the eyesore that they once were.

When properly buffered and designed, data centers make great additions to the community. They don’t produce students, they generate far less traffic than other commercial endeavors, and they certainly don’t burden our public safety departments because they are the most secured parcels of land in the county. They’re good neighbors who pay their taxes and don’t require much from the county in return.

We can’t afford to let this opportunity slip through our fingers because a small number of activists and self-proclaimed experts continue to spread misinformation and try to scare people into opposing these projects that would help so many families throughout the county.

The new tax revenue that the data centers would generate would dramatically improve the quality of life for so many and would enable us to make much-needed improvements that would be an across-the-board benefit to every single resident who calls Prince William County home.