(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Dane County board is considering an 18-month moratorium on what it calls hyperscale data centers including applications, zoning permits or citing in the county that includes the state capital of Madison.
The board said that the resolution was allow for time to look into the complex issues surrounding the projects. The full county board is scheduled to consider the proposal June 4.
The proposal comes after Manitowoc County approved a similar 18-month moratorium in late April.
“There is growing concern that Dane County communities could see project proposals before that work is complete,” Dane County Board Chair Patrick Miles said in a statement. “This moratorium gives the committee the time it needs to finish and gives the county the opportunity to make thoughtful, data-driven policy decisions informed by their findings.”
The city of Madison will host a virtual public meeting on Wednesday related to its own one-year moratorium on data centers.
The moratoriums come as Wisconsin’s Legislative Audit Bureau shows that the state will forego $1.5 billion in sales tax to four data center projects in initially construction and then $369 million more annually once the projects are completed.
The sales tax exemption was enacted in the 2023-25 budget and applies to everything from property purchases to computer servers and energy systems at the site to electricity and cooling systems.
The exemptions apply to Microsoft’s $20.6 billion in data centers in Wisconsin along with OpenAI, Oracle and Vantage Data Centers’ $15 billion in data center investments in Port Washington. Epic Hosting’s $347 million project in Verona and Meta’s $1 billion project in Beaver Dam are also included.
Many of the projects are also in tax increment districts that allow the companies to regain additional property taxes from the developments to pay for the projects.
Economist JC Bradbury wrote Thursday that pushback against data center tax breaks nationwide have come not because data centers are bad or unnecessary but because those pushing the projects have asked for and received special tax treatment.
“Pundits are asking why data centers are so maligned,” Bradbury wrote. “Well, when the transparently bogus economic promises your hired lobbyists made about these big ugly buildings fall flat, in order to obtain rent-seeking spoils, you’re going to get some harsh blowback.
“It’s time for a new data center PR strategy. Come clean and admit you’re just like any other private business. Stop asking for handouts, and people will start treating you like a legitimate industry. Try normal capitalism, not crony capitalism.”
