Data centers

Biblical foundation

"Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Jeremiah 29:7

For me that verse settles what seeking the prosperity of this city means: knowing what it holds that is scarce, and refusing to spend it on a bad trade.

Constitutional foundation

Oregon's constitution, state law and Albany's charter put the decision where it belongs. The City of Albany co-sponsors the Albany Enterprise Zone with Linn County. Right now no data center can be authorized for an enterprise zone tax break anywhere in Oregon. The legislature paused those authorizations until 90 days after the 2027 session adjourns (House Bill 4084, section 11b), which means the pause runs out during the next mayor's term. Once it lifts, a zone sponsor cannot simply refuse a qualifying application. State law makes that part automatic (ORS 285C.140). What a sponsor can lawfully do is adopt the standards and conditions state law lets sponsors attach to every authorization (ORS 285C.150, 285C.155), and those standards and conditions come to the council the mayor chairs. The legislature has barred extended exemptions for data centers (House Bill 4084, section 9). A Strategic Investment Program deal inside city limits cannot exist without the city's signature (ORS 285C.609(4)(a)). And the durable answer is the land use code, which Albany writes for itself under state law (ORS Chapter 227) and Oregon's home-rule article (Article XI, Section 2). The mayor has no vote except to break a tie (Charter Section 18); the office comes with a veto (Section 38), a gavel, and your attention.

Facts, data, numbers

• Jobs. Prineville has hosted data centers for fifteen years; the industry there employs about 700 people, and this year those companies were excused from more than $130 million in property taxes (Bend Source, July 1, 2026, citing the city's economic analysis and the Crook County Assessor's Office). In 2024 corporate property tax breaks cost Crook County schools $29 million as more data centers came online (Good Jobs First, reported by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, August 21, 2025). Virginia's legislative auditors found a typical data center employs about 50 people once running (Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, Report 598, 2024). Albany already has about 3,600 manufacturing jobs paying well above our median wage (Albany Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 3, 2019 figures from the city's 2020 Economic Opportunities Analysis).
• Taxes. Oregon's long-term rural enterprise zone deals run up to 15 years (Business Oregon). Amazon gets nearly $100 million a year in tax breaks on its Eastern Oregon data centers and pays about $50 million in local taxes and fees (The Oregonian, February 16, 2025); in March it agreed to pay $20.5 million to settle a nitrate-pollution lawsuit tied to the water used to cool its servers, while denying responsibility (Oregon Capital Chronicle, March 31, 2026). Business property tax breaks cost Oregon schools about $275 million in 2024 (Good Jobs First, reported by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, August 21, 2025).
• Water. In 2024 Google's sites in The Dalles drew about a million gallons a day, roughly a third of that city's water, up from 12 percent in 2012; the city's water plan calls for some $260 million in water system upgrades over the next 20 years, and its projections show residential rates nearly doubling by 2036 (OPB, January 15, 2026). The city spent 13 months in court to keep the usage figure from its own citizens (The Oregonian, December 15, 2022).
• Power. Oregon passed the POWER Act in 2025 to keep loads of 20 megawatts or more from pushing their costs onto households (House Bill 3546; OPB, June 5, 2025). Portland General Electric's protection took effect on June 10 under Oregon Public Utility Commission Order 26-154, entered May 7, 2026. Pacific Power's version, the one that covers Albany, is still pending at the Public Utility Commission. The company, the commission's staff and the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board reached a settlement in principle in August, and the commission has set November 13, 2026 as its target for a final order, with new rates to take effect January 1, 2027 (Oregon PUC docket UE 463, rulings of August 20 and August 31, 2026). The governor has called Oregon a "cheap date" for data centers (OPB, July 2, 2026).
• Albany. The city's own analysis says Albany "lacks enough 'shovel-ready' industrial land of all types and sizes in the short term"; five of seven key employment sites have major hurdles; large sites over 30 acres are what we are shortest of; South Albany's 214 acres still need roads, a rail crossing fix and wetlands work (Albany Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 3, from the city's 2020 Economic Opportunities Analysis). Albany has permitted fewer than fifty homes a year on average over the last three years, against a state target of 488 a year (U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, 2023-2025; Oregon Housing Needs Analysis target, 2026). By February the fire department had hit 513 instances of five simultaneous calls in the fiscal year that began in July 2025 (Albany Public Safety Commission minutes, February 4, 2026); police staffing is roughly half the national average, about 1.16 funded officers for every thousand residents against 2.4 (Albany Police Department 2025 Annual Crime Report; Public Safety Commission minutes). The general fund is $2.2 million short, and nearly 78 cents of every general fund dollar already goes to police and fire (City of Albany 2025-2027 Adopted Budget, city manager's budget message and adopting resolution).
• The other side of the ledger. Prineville's utility franchise fees, driven by data center electricity use, bring that city nearly $11 million a year (Bend Source, July 1, 2026); Albany's own fee is seven percent of Pacific Power's revenue in the city (Albany's 2015 franchise ordinance), and by the campaign's own estimate a big load here could mean several million a year to the city budget. Counted on the other side of the ledger, none of that money reaches the schools or the county, and the land, water and grid costs do not go away. Prineville's own leaders now say they likely will not negotiate a full abatement next time (Bend Source, July 1, 2026).

Plan

1. The city decides Use every inch of lawful discretion in the enterprise zone. Adopt the standards and conditions state law lets sponsors attach to every authorization, and never sign the discretionary agreements that sweeten a data center deal.
2. The city decides Close the side door. The council should put a policy on the record now, before any proposal arrives, that Albany will not sign a Strategic Investment Program agreement for a data center.
3. The city decides Pass the data center ordinance, and make it strong. A member of our own Planning Commission has drafted rules that would make data centers disclose their power and water demands and get a conditional use permit, and the commission has said it wants to bring those rules to the council at a joint work session this fall. I support that work, I want it stronger, with a public hearing on every permit, and I want it adopted before the first sales team shows up.
4. The city decides No secret negotiations. The city should sign no non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and entertain no code-name projects in data center talks. If a company will not tell Albany its name, it does not get Albany's water.
5. The city decides No reserving water or sewer capacity for any single user at data center scale, and no fee deal that discounts its way around the capacity it consumes.
6. The mayor has a seat In Salem and at the county, my positions are plain: the statewide pause on enterprise zone tax breaks for data centers should be made permanent, the Public Utility Commission should finish the Pacific Power protections, and Linn County should know that I oppose hosting these projects on our urban edge, where our crews answer the emergency calls.
7. The city decides A standing yes to the right employers. The same shovel-ready acres go first, and fast, to manufacturers, food processors, and the specialty metals supply chain: employers measured in jobs per acre, hiring Albany people at wages above our median. In 2024 long-term enterprise zone agreements from Linn County and Millersburg helped land a $257 million can plant and a $122 million manufacturing project next door in Millersburg.

Summary

Data centers take the most of what Albany has the least of, land, water, power and trust, and give back a handful of jobs and a tax bill negotiated away before ground is broken; Prineville's fifteen years show about 700 jobs against more than $130 million in taxes exempted this year, and The Dalles shows a city that went to court for 13 months to keep Google's water use from its own citizens. Albany is short of shovel-ready land, short of homes, and already asking police and fire to do more with less. The charter and state law give the council I would chair the pen on every enterprise zone agreement, the signature every Strategic Investment Program deal needs, and the land use code that decides what gets built. My answer to a data center that arrives under a code name with a non-disclosure agreement and a request for an abatement is no, and the same acres go to employers who hire Albany people at wages above our median. The policy Albany needs on the record now, while the lobby is empty, is that it will not sign a Strategic Investment Program agreement for a data center, because a safe, stable, sustainable Albany for the next fifty years is built on the land, water and power this city has the least of, and they should not be spent on a bad trade.

Jeremiah 29:7, as quoted in the statement of faith at warkformayor.org/faith.html. Oregon Constitution, Article XI, Section 2. Oregon Revised Statutes 285C.140, 285C.150 and 285C.155, on enterprise zone authorization and the standards and conditions a sponsor may set; 285C.606 and 285C.609, on Strategic Investment Program agreements; and Chapter 227, on city land use regulation. Oregon House Bill 4084 (2026), as enrolled: section 9, amending ORS 285C.160 so that the exemption period may not be extended for data center property, and section 11b, barring enterprise zone authorization for data center projects until 90 days after the 2027 legislative session adjourns. Albany City Charter, Sections 18 and 38, as codified at ecode360.com/AL4334 and current through June 24, 2026. The City of Albany's enterprise zone agreements with CorrQuest Automation (2023) and Valliscor, LLC (2026), posted at albanyoregon.gov/ecodev/enterprise-zone, and the Albany City Council resolution of January 28, 2026 approving the Valliscor agreement, which name the Albany Enterprise Zone and its sponsors, the City of Albany and Linn County. Bend Source, July 1, 2026, "Prineville Wants More Out of Its Next Data Center Deal," citing the city's economic analysis and the Crook County Assessor's Office, for the roughly 700 jobs, the more than $130 million in property taxes exempted this year, the nearly $11 million a year in utility franchise fees driven by data centers' electricity use, and the statement by Prineville's leaders that they likely will not negotiate a full abatement next time. Oregon Capital Chronicle, August 21, 2025, also published by The Bulletin, reporting the Good Jobs First study, for the $29 million Crook County schools gave up to corporate property tax breaks in 2024 and the $275 million lost by Oregon school districts in 2024. Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, Report 598, December 2024, for the roughly 50 full-time workers at a typical data center. Albany Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 3, adopted by Ordinance 6060 on March 28, 2025, drawing on the city's 2020 Economic Opportunities Analysis, for the 3,621 manufacturing jobs in 2019, the wage comparison, the shovel-ready land findings, the five of seven key sites with major hurdles, the shortage of sites over 30 acres, and South Albany's 214 acres. Business Oregon, Long-Term Rural Enterprise Zone program page, for the 7 to 15 year exemption period. The Oregonian, February 16, 2025, also published by The Bulletin, for Amazon's nearly $100 million a year in tax breaks on its Oregon data centers against the $50 million it pays in local taxes and fees. Oregon Capital Chronicle, March 31, 2026, for the $20.5 million nitrate settlement. OPB, January 15, 2026, and OPB's January 23, 2026 response to the mayor of The Dalles, for Google's roughly one million gallons a day and one-third share of that city's water in 2024, the 12 percent share in 2012, the roughly $260 million in planned water projects, and the 99 percent residential rate increase projected by 2036. The Oregonian, December 15, 2022, for the 13-month legal fight to keep Google's water use secret, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, December 15, 2022, for the settlement that ended it. OPB, June 5, 2025, for House Bill 3546, the POWER Act, and its 20 megawatt threshold. Oregon Public Utility Commission Order 26-154, entered May 7, 2026, as reported by Utility Dive on May 28, 2026, for Portland General Electric's large-load tariff and its June 10, 2026 effective date. Oregon Public Utility Commission docket UE 463, PacifiCorp Advice No. 25-015, Schedule 401: the administrative law judge's ruling of August 20, 2026, on the settlement in principle among PacifiCorp, commission staff and the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board; the ruling of August 31, 2026, adopting a schedule with a target commission order date of November 13, 2026 and a rate effective date of January 1, 2027; and Order 26-310 of August 31, 2026. OPB, July 2, 2026, and KLCC, July 3, 2026, for the governor's "cheap date" remark. U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, 2025 annual file, for the 28 homes permitted in Albany; Oregon Housing Needs Analysis production target for Albany, Oregon Department of Administrative Services Office of Economic Analysis, 2026, for the 488 a year. Albany Public Safety Commission minutes, February 4, 2026, for the 513 cases of five concurrent calls in the fiscal year to that date. Albany Police Department 2025 Annual Crime Report, February 2026, and Public Safety Commission minutes, for 1.16 funded officers per thousand residents against a national average of 2.4. City of Albany 2025-2027 Adopted Budget, the city manager's budget message, for the $2.2 million general fund deficit, and the adopting resolution, for public safety at 77.6 percent of the general fund. Albany's 2015 Pacific Power franchise ordinance, which set the fee at 7 percent of gross revenue, as reported by Hasso Hering at hh-today.com on July 22, 2015. The campaign's own estimate of new franchise revenue from a large load: the 7 percent fee applied to the power purchases of a 100 megawatt load, roughly $3.5 million to $5 million a year, none of which reaches the schools or the county. Albany Planning Commission agenda, August 17, 2026, item 6, a commissioner's draft data center ordinance, and Gazette-Times, August 24, 2026, for the commission's intent to bring the draft to a joint work session with the council. Linn County Board of Commissioners news release, November 18, 2024, and the long-term rural enterprise zone agreement among Linn County, the City of Millersburg and Ball Corporation, for Ball's $257 million can plant (108 jobs) and CLTLab's $122 million project (75 jobs) in Millersburg.