In light of Gov. Mike DeWine’s announced pause of Ohio’s data center tax exemption, a Richland County chamber official said the she wouldn’t rule out a project without looking at it in its entirety.
Following the state’s announcement, Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, expressed “disappointment” with the pause on the sales and use tax exemption for data centers.
“No two projects come with the same opportunities,” President and CEO of the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development Jessica Gribben said. “The Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development is looking to support our municipal partners in projects that provide high-skill, high-wage jobs to our communities, and are a net positive impact. Specifically to data centers, I wouldn’t rule out a project without looking at it in its entirety.”
Sam Sauder, a Franklin Township trustee, said the trustees have had no correspondence with EnergiAcres since April 15, when co-founder and project developer Shawn Cutter made a presentation to trustees about a proposed data center that would also produce food.
Sauder gets asked all the time whether EnergiAcres still wants to build a data center in Richland County, but doesn’t know the answer.
Currently, residents are collecting signatures of those opposed to data centers for a statewide ballot initiative.
Although Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry in April said the city would no longer be involved in EnergiAcres’ data center project, Cutter earlier said the land would likely be annexed into the City of Mansfield to connect water, sewer and roads on the north side of Lahm Airport.
Perry and other city, local and state officials were working “toward a pre-annexation development agreement” with EnergiAcres in March on a proposed data center near Mansfield Lahm Airport.
EnergiAcres is an infrastructure developer focused on creating energy-anchored data center campuses that integrate power generation, AI technology and agricultural sustainability.
On April 15, Cutter told Franklin Township trustees and residents that he signed an agreement for 600-700 acres of farmland and planned to break ground in 2027.
“With all surrounding states having incentives in place to lure data centers that are comparable to or more expansive than our own, Ohio cannot afford to forfeit the transformational economic gains this industry yields,” Stivers said. “That’s why we are disappointed to learn of the recently announced pause on the sales and use tax exemption for data centers. This industry has positioned Ohio as a national leader in the future economy — as our research foundation’s study illustrates, the data center sector generates $26.4 billion annually in total economic output, supports 95,000 total Ohio jobs and generates a net of $1 billion annually in state and local tax revenue.
“We are committed to working with our partners in the industry, Gov. Mike DeWine, and the Ohio General Assembly to examine ways to modify the exemption that keep our state economically competitive while protecting ratepayers and complying with all local zoning regulations. With continued investments proving our state’s desirability for digital infrastructure growth, Ohio is facing a huge opportunity to lead, and making ourselves less business friendly is not the way to maximize it.”
Richland Chamber looks at projects ‘based on its merits’
“While I don’t have a data center project in front of me at the moment to specifically comment on, we look at and evaluate every project based on its merits,” Gribben said.
She acknowledged that data center projects can be ‘light’ on jobs, though ones that are created are higher-wage jobs in tech and diversify the economy. They can also bring other benefits.
“Additionally, we are seeing other communities leverage these projects for funding for schools, infrastructure, parks and other areas that can be difference-makers. Simultaneously, we need to proceed with caution, protect our resources, infrastructure and green field sites, and make sure projects are built out where it is appropriate to do so,” Gribben said. “All that to say, it is a nuanced discussion that would need to be vetted and leveraged to make it a community win for us to support it, just like any other project that comes our way. With regard to incentives, we prefer to have them all in our tool kit, and use them judiciously to be competitive in a global economy.”
“As this story continues to develop, I want to note that the opportunity we are evaluating is broader than any single municipal path,” EnergiAcres Attorney and Spokesman Dilsha Kasmani said in May. “The optioned land for the project is in Richland County, and the project remains in the early stages of evaluation. Land assembly and technical work are ongoing, so the final project footprint and development configuration remain subject to change.”
Contact Lou Whitmire at 419-521-7223. She can be reached on X at @lwhitmir.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Richland County officials weigh in on data center tax pause
Reporting by Lou Whitmire, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
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