(The Center Square) – A family on Pageland Lane says they’re being taxed like a data center’s already been built — even though the Digital Gateway project is still in court, tied up in zoning challenges, and it hasn’t broken ground.
Their tax bill? Up from $6,000 to $41,000 in two years.
The tax hikes are hitting landowners tied to Prince William County’s 2,100-acre Digital Gateway rezoning plan — roughly three times the size of New York City’s Central Park. But with construction on hold and lawsuits still active, residents say they’re footing the bill for development that doesn’t even exist yet.
Leila Bartruff, who works in compliance in the mortgage industry, told county officials her family’s property tax bill exploded from $6,000 to nearly $41,000 in just two years — all for the same Gainesville home they’ve lived in for more than two decades. Her husband teaches public school in Prince William County.
“Even if I or my husband picked up a full-time second job that paid above minimum wage, we still couldn’t earn enough in a year to pay that bill,” she said. “We’re being taxed as if data centers are already up and running, but nothing’s even been built yet.”
She added: “Our neighbors are just like us. They are teachers, military retirees. They cannot afford this either. What makes my home so valuable now? Nothing. It’s the exact same home I’ve lived in for years… The only difference is that you rezoned it to allow for data centers — but that project has been stalled by litigation beyond our control. The development can’t move forward, and yet we are being taxed as if it has. What I’m asking for is basic fairness.”
However, according to property tax experts, assessments aren’t supposed to leap based on speculative development — especially not one that’s still tied up in court.
David Merriman, a professor of public finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said land should be assessed based on its current market value — not on future expectations. “Assessors should not attempt to predict future values,” Merriman told The Center Square. “They should base assessments on current market values (sales prices).”
While some appreciation is expected when rezoning appears likely, Merriman warned that tying assessments to anticipated future use comes with risk.
“There is also some risk that the future value will not materialize,” he said. “Market value is typically related to the expected future value — but that should account for both the probability of appreciation and the value if it doesn’t happen.”
The National League of Cities echoed that concern in a statement to The Center Square, saying the practice of assessing property based on pending rezonings can be “controversial and risky.” If the proposed changes don’t materialize, the organization noted, landowners may be over-assessed and stuck with tax burdens that don’t match actual development. Local governments can mitigate that risk by phasing in tax adjustments or aligning increases with real construction milestones.
But while property owners face steep new tax bills, the project itself remains in limbo. A coalition of residents and historic preservation advocates is still fighting the rezoning in court, arguing the Prince William County Board of Supervisors violated state law when it approved the 2,100-acre data center corridor.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Battlefield Trust and other landowners, claims the board rushed the approval through a 27-hour meeting last December, ignoring its own planning staff, local opposition and key environmental analyses.
The land in question borders the Manassas National Battlefield Park — and the group says it’s being rezoned without clear plans or protections, while the tax burden shifts onto homeowners caught in the middle.
Meanwhile, the county is already banking on the Digital Gateway’s success. In its adopted 2025–2026 budget, Prince William set aside $1 million to create a “Data Center Revenue Stabilization Reserve” — a fund designed to help smooth out tax revenue fluctuations tied to the data center market.
Budget documents show the county expects the Digital Gateway and similar projects to significantly boost its long-term revenue, even though construction hasn’t started and the land remains under legal challenge.
Bartruff told The Center Square the original timeline she and other property owners were given strongly implied they’d be out by mid-2023. “We thought that we would be out by like June 2023,” she said. But the rezoning didn’t come to a vote until that December — and now, in 2025, she and her neighbors are still waiting. “We felt like we were being asked to just get out of the way,” she said. “And now we’re being crushed by a tax bill on a project that can’t even move forward.” Her home, assessed at around $588,000 in 2023, is now valued at more than $4.4 million.
Other Northern Virginia counties are slowing down data center growth. Loudoun County, which has a high concentration of data centers, recently ended automatic approvals and now requires public hearings for new projects.
Fairfax County passed stricter zoning rules last year, including noise studies, building design standards, and 200-foot setbacks from homes. Stafford County began requiring special permits for data centers in 2025. In Prince William, residents say the Digital Gateway moved forward without similar protections, and now they are stuck with the tax bill while the project remains in court.
Under Virginia law, homeowners are still responsible for paying taxes on their full assessed value, even if the underlying development is under litigation. If property taxes go unpaid, counties can apply a 10% penalty and charge monthly interest. After one year of nonpayment, Prince William has the authority to place a lien on the property or initiate a tax sale through circuit court.
Prince William County officials declined to answer specific questions about the tax assessments, citing ongoing litigation. A county spokesperson said land is taxed according to its zoning and that Virginia law requires property to be assessed at fair market value. Residents with concerns, the county added, should contact the Real Estate Assessment Office directly.
