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Compare every proposal on the same three-account ledger: verified jobs, net public revenue, and the electricity and water burden required to serve the facility. Separate temporary construction work from permanent operations, subtract incentives and public costs from gross tax receipts, and show peak as well as annual resource demand. Put the forecast period, assumptions, project phase, data source, and uncertainty beside every number, then require recurring public reports so estimates can be replaced with measured results.
Start with one comparable record for every proposal
A data center can look attractive when a developer quotes a large investment, a large construction workforce, or a projected tax payment. Those figures answer different questions and may occur in different years. A fair comparison uses one standardized record for each project, with the same definitions and horizon.
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| Category | Record for each proposal | Why the distinction matters |
|---|---|---|
| Project identity | End user or tenant, owner, site, phase, planned capacity, construction start and completion dates | An announced campus, a contracted phase, and an operating facility are not the same exposure for a community. |
| Jobs | Construction and trade jobs; ongoing facility jobs; duration; wages; benefits; local hiring; apprenticeships; counting method | A short-term peak workforce should not be reported as continuing employment. |
| Public finance | Gross taxes; exemptions; grants; other incentives; public-service and infrastructure costs; timing of cash flows | Gross receipts can be positive while the net fiscal effect is negative. |
| Electricity | Peak demand in megawatts, expected annual use in megawatt-hours, ramp-up schedule, reliability needs, upgrades and payer | Grid capacity and annual energy are different constraints and costs. |
| Water | Withdrawal, consumptive use, source, cooling technology, seasonal pattern, drought limits, treatment and system upgrades | Water removed from a system is not necessarily the same as water permanently consumed. |
| Accountability | Baseline, reporting frequency, independent verification, review dates, remedies and successor obligations | Without a measurable baseline, a forecast cannot be tested after approval. |
Use the same forecast horizon for competing proposals, such as the construction period plus a defined number of operating years. If one applicant supplies a 20-year projection and another supplies only a five-year estimate, show both the common comparison period and the longer scenario rather than treating the figures as directly equivalent.
Measure jobs without overstating employment
Separate construction from operating employment
Construction and trade positions are temporary, even when a project takes several years to build. Ongoing jobs include operations, facilities maintenance, security, information technology, administration and other roles that remain after a phase opens. Report each category separately, with start and end dates or an expected duration.
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Ask the applicant to state whether a number means unique people, full-time-equivalent positions, or cumulative job-years. A count of workers who appear on a site over two years is not interchangeable with a count of permanent positions. Require the same unit from every bidder and retain the underlying payroll or contractor records needed for an audit.
Describe job quality and access
- List hourly or annual wages by occupation, and identify whether the figure includes overtime.
- State health coverage, retirement contributions, paid leave and other benefits separately from base pay.
- Report the share of hires from the host jurisdiction and the geographic area used to define local.
- Count registered apprenticeships, hours of apprenticeship training and the trades involved.
- Identify recruiting partners, training funds and barriers such as licensing or shift requirements.
- Show the number of positions expected in each phase instead of only a campus-wide total.
Make the claims verifiable
Include a baseline date, a counting methodology and a document-retention rule in the approval agreement. A useful report identifies the job title, worksite, employer, employment period, wage band, benefits and local status while protecting personal information. Independent review can test payroll, certified contractor reports, apprenticeship records and tax filings.
Washington’s 2026 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee review illustrates why this detail matters. For three beneficiaries’ refurbishment projects in 2023 and 2024, it reported 296 construction and trade jobs. Separately, beneficiaries reported 53 cumulative family-wage jobs: 13 in 2023 and 40 in 2024. The categories and periods differ, and the report said it could not yet verify whether the reported positions met statutory requirements. The construction figure therefore should not be presented as continuing operations employment.
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Build the gross-revenue schedule
List each tax stream, the taxable base, the rate, the expected payment year and the government receiving it. Possible lines include property, sales and use, business activity, utility, payroll-related or other locally applicable taxes. Identify whether the estimate is based on assessed value, actual purchases, electricity sales, payroll or another base. Keep state, county, city and special-district receipts in separate columns.
Subtract incentives and public costs
Net fiscal impact is the value left after exemptions and public obligations. Subtract tax exemptions, credits, rebates, grants, discounted land or utility service, financing support, foregone fees, additional inspectors and other incremental services. Add one-time and recurring infrastructure costs, including roads, substations, transmission, water-treatment capacity, pipelines, emergency services and debt service. If a utility recovers costs from ratepayers, show that burden even when it does not appear in the government’s operating budget.
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Use a transparent formula:
Net fiscal impact = gross project taxes − tax exemptions and incentives − incremental public services − public infrastructure and financing costs
Show the timing of each cash flow. A large payment many years in the future may not offset an immediate capital outlay. Present undiscounted totals for readability and, when the jurisdiction normally uses a discount rate, a separately labeled present-value calculation. State the rate and the date of the calculation rather than hiding them in a spreadsheet.
Test the assumptions
Run at least low, base and high cases for taxable value, occupancy, construction timing, electricity load and incentive duration. Explain which assumptions are controlled by the applicant and which depend on tenants, market conditions or utility schedules. A phased project should have a fiscal schedule for each phase and a clear consequence if a phase is delayed, downsized or canceled.
Maryland Executive Order 01.01.2026.16 directs officials to consider “The net fiscal impact on the State and host jurisdiction after accounting for incentives and public costs, and whether economic commitments are measurable, time-bound, publicly reported, and subject to periodic review.” Use that standard as a checklist: every material commitment should have an amount, deadline, reporting method, review date and remedy.
Price the electricity requirement correctly
Report peak, annual and ramp-up demand
Peak demand is the maximum instantaneous load that the grid must be able to serve, measured in megawatts. Annual consumption is energy used over time, measured in megawatt-hours. Include both, along with the expected load factor, commissioning schedule and any backup generation or storage. A campus that reaches its announced capacity only after several phases should not be compared with a fully loaded facility on day one.
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Ask the electric utility to validate available capacity, interconnection timing, transmission and substation upgrades, reliability requirements and the party responsible for each cost. Separate announced capacity from contracted capacity and from metered load. If the project receives a special tariff or infrastructure contribution, show how that changes costs for the developer and other customers.
Use Washington’s figures as a measurement lesson, not a benchmark
Washington JLARC estimated approximately 427,000 MWh of electricity use in 2024 for four eligible centers, equal to 1.4% of total electricity sales for the two utilities in its analysis. The estimate relied in part on facility capacity and owner-reported utilization. Data centers were not required to report electricity use, limiting year-over-year comparisons of actual use and taxes. These figures describe that Washington program and year; they are not a universal consumption benchmark for another region or project.
| Washington JLARC item | Reported value | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity use | Approximately 427,000 MWh in 2024 | Estimate for four eligible centers; partly based on capacity and owner-reported utilization. |
| Share of utility sales | 1.4% | Share of total sales for the two utilities analyzed, not a national or industry average. |
| Reporting limitation | Actual electricity use was not required to be reported | Limits year-over-year comparison of use and taxes. |
Measure water withdrawal and consumption separately
Define the two quantities
Withdrawal is the volume taken from a river, reservoir, municipal system, groundwater source or other supply. Consumptive use is the portion not returned to that source in a usable condition, often because it evaporates or is incorporated into a product. Require both figures in consistent units and time periods, with monthly or seasonal detail where drought or peak demand is relevant.
Identify the cooling system and constraints
Record the proposed cooling method, water source, treatment requirements, discharge destination and expected quality. Compare a water-intensive design with air-cooled, closed-loop or hybrid alternatives on water, electricity, noise, reliability and cost rather than assuming one technology is automatically superior. Ask the water provider to confirm available supply, treatment and conveyance capacity, peak-day effects, drought rules and upgrade schedules.
Show who pays for new wells, treatment plants, storage, pipelines, monitoring and emergency supply. Explain how the project’s demand could affect existing households, farms, businesses and environmental flows. Maryland’s order calls for consideration of water availability, cooling alternatives, local effects and ongoing disclosure of withdrawals and consumption.
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Compare proposals on a common decision matrix
Do not create a single jobs-to-tax or tax-to-megawatt ratio. No universal ratio or resource-use threshold is established by the official examples, and local tax structures, project types, grid capacity and water conditions differ. Instead, place each proposal on the same axes and disclose the evidence quality.
| Axis | Questions to answer | Evidence to require |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent employment | How many ongoing local positions, at what wages and benefits, and when do they begin? | Staffing plan, payroll records, local-hire definition and annual verification. |
| Construction employment | How many job-years or workers, for which trades and phases? | Certified contractor reports, labor hours, wage records and apprenticeship logs. |
| Gross revenue | Which tax bases and rates produce receipts, and in what years? | Assessor, finance-office and utility calculations using stated assumptions. |
| Net fiscal impact | What remains after incentives, services and infrastructure? | Executed incentive terms, cost estimates, funding sources and sensitivity cases. |
| Electricity | What are peak megawatts, annual MWh and ramp dates? | Utility-validated load study, interconnection agreement and meter data. |
| Water | What is withdrawn, consumed and returned, by season and source? | Water-model results, permits, meter readings and drought contingencies. |
| Risk allocation | Who pays if load, water use or construction cost exceeds the forecast? | Tariffs, contracts, bonds, performance security and remedies. |
| Transparency | When will results be published and independently checked? | Public baseline, report format, audit rights and review calendar. |
Scorecards can help officials organize evidence, but avoid assigning invented weights that imply scientific precision. If a community chooses weights, publish them before ranking proposals and show how the ranking changes under reasonable alternatives.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Put measurable conditions in the approval agreement
Define the baseline and reporting package
Require a public baseline before construction begins. It should state existing employment, tax receipts, utility load, water use, infrastructure capacity and any assumptions used in the forecast. Require recurring reports during construction and operation, with the same definitions used in the baseline.
Each report should include:
- Construction and permanent jobs by category, employer, duration, wages, benefits, local status and apprenticeship participation.
- Taxes paid, incentives claimed, public spending, infrastructure commitments and the cumulative net fiscal position.
- Peak electric demand, monthly and annual consumption, contracted versus metered load and completed upgrades.
- Water withdrawal, consumptive use, source, discharge, cooling configuration and any drought response.
- Phase status, tenant or end-user changes, delays, cancellations and revised forecasts.
Make commitments enforceable
Specify deadlines, responsible parties, data formats, audit access and publication dates. Include successor obligations if the facility is sold or a tenant changes. Remedies can include repayment or reduction of incentives, fees, performance bonds, corrective plans or other measures authorized by local law. Tie each remedy to a measurable shortfall and provide a process for correcting data errors.
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Maryland’s order also calls for local guidance on binding employment commitments, reporting, successor obligations, remedies and periodic review. That guidance is a useful model for turning broad promises into terms that can be checked after approval.
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Use official examples without importing another state’s rules
Washington: separate categories and disclose gaps
Washington JLARC estimated that beneficiaries of an urban-county sales and use tax exemption for data-center servers and power infrastructure saved $42.4 million over 2023–2026. The review describes the preference before a 2026 legislative change narrowed the exemption. The savings estimate is therefore tied to that program, period and law; it should not be treated as the price of an incentive elsewhere.
The same review’s 296 construction and trade jobs, 53 cumulative family-wage jobs and 427,000 MWh estimate demonstrate the importance of labels, dates and verification. The report noted that its reporting rules did not require beneficiaries to describe project work, job duration, wages or total labor hours, and reported positions had not yet been verified against statutory targets.
Virginia: ask what the return-on-investment report measures
Virginia’s statutory report for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 requires the state to report the tax benefit and a return-on-investment analysis including direct and indirect jobs and state and local tax revenue. Use that structure to ask which benefits and costs a proposal’s jurisdiction will measure. Check the detailed figures and current rules before applying any Virginia number to another state.
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Delaware’s Division of Research presents examples of incentives with thresholds tied to investment, job counts and wages. Incentive designs vary by state. Treat those examples as prompts to identify the exact local threshold, duration, eligibility test, clawback and reporting duty rather than evidence that another state’s terms apply to the proposal under review.
Review a proposal through its full timeline
- Identify the project. Confirm the end user, ownership, site, phase, planned capacity and whether a tenant is committed or only contemplated.
- Freeze definitions. Agree on job units, local area, wage measure, peak load, annual electricity, withdrawal, consumption, tax categories and incentive terms before comparing bids.
- Validate capacity. Obtain written utility and water-provider studies showing available capacity, upgrade scope, schedule and cost allocation.
- Build the fiscal model. Calculate gross taxes, subtract incentives and public costs, and show annual cash flows under multiple occupancy and schedule cases.
- Set conditions. Convert employment, resource and reporting promises into dated, measurable obligations with remedies.
- Publish the baseline. Release assumptions, definitions and independent validation before construction starts.
- Monitor phases. Replace forecasts with payroll, meter and water data as each phase is built and commissioned.
- Reconcile and review. At each scheduled review, compare actual results with the baseline, apply remedies where authorized and update the next phase only with documented evidence.
Common comparison errors and how to correct them
- Counting construction workers as permanent jobs: publish separate categories and durations.
- Using gross taxes as the payoff: subtract exemptions, incentives, services and infrastructure before stating a fiscal result.
- Confusing megawatts with megawatt-hours: show peak capacity and annual energy in separate fields.
- Reporting water withdrawal alone: add consumptive use, source, season and return flow.
- Treating announced capacity as actual demand: distinguish planned, contracted, commissioned and metered load.
- Comparing different horizons: use a common period and identify every extension or terminal assumption.
- Accepting unverified forecasts: require source documents, independent checks and a replacement schedule for estimates.
- Importing another state’s incentive: read the local statute, ordinance, tariff and executed agreement.
- Ignoring phase failure: state what happens to incentives, infrastructure spending and commitments if a phase is delayed, downsized or canceled.
A practical worksheet for decision-makers
Keep one row per proposal and one column for each defined measure. Attach the source document and date to every number. For a projection, record the forecast horizon, project phase, utilization assumption and uncertainty. For an observed result, record the meter, payroll, tax filing or audit that supports it.
| Worksheet field | Entry format |
|---|---|
| Job measure | Construction job-years; permanent full-time-equivalent positions; wage and benefits; local share; apprenticeships; verification source. |
| Tax measure | Tax type, taxable base, rate, annual gross receipt, incentive, public cost, net amount and payment year. |
| Electric measure | Peak MW; annual MWh; phase and ramp date; contracted load; metered load; upgrade cost; payer. |
| Water measure | Withdrawal volume; consumptive volume; source; cooling method; season; discharge; upgrade cost; payer. |
| Commitment control | Baseline date; report due date; independent verifier; review date; remedy; successor obligation. |
When a value has not been established, write “not stated” and identify the responsible agency or applicant that must supply it. Do not silently treat a missing value as zero. A proposal with less complete evidence may be riskier than one with lower but well-supported projections.
What a defensible conclusion looks like
The strongest proposal is not automatically the one with the biggest job count, tax estimate or announced capacity. It is the one whose permanent and temporary employment claims are distinct and verifiable, whose net fiscal effect remains credible after incentives and public costs, and whose electricity and water requirements fit documented local capacity with a clear allocation of upgrade costs. Decision-makers should approve phases only when the evidence, conditions and reporting system are strong enough to test the next phase against reality.
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