Hillsboro Residents Asked To Attend City Council Work Session On Data Centers Tonight At 6 PM

The Real Story- A Column

Editors Update- 6-9-26 at 7 PM-

The meeting has started:  We have analyzed the massive data posting before the meeting and the 4 separate proposals made by our Councilors.  Here is a quick look at what we are seeing:

The Corporate Sales Job: Why 50+ Slides Still Leave Us in the Dark

As the City Council enters tonight’s crucial data center work session, the administration has dumped an overwhelming, multi-gigabyte avalanche of information onto the public at the absolute eleventh hour. But do not let the sheer volume of these fifty-plus slick, color-coded slides fool you. A forensic look through the data reveals that this massive dump functions more as a bureaucratic smoke screen than an exercise in true public transparency. While staff buries the community under broad regional statistics and rather defensive narratives, they have conspicuously failed to offer what we need most: a transparent, case-by-case financial accounting of exactly how much tax revenue the City of Hillsboro and Washington County have already forfeited, and the true long-term financial impacts of the 17 new agreements rushed through before the state moratorium took effect.

The missing math becomes even more glaring when contrasted with the internal counselor memos that have now split up the unity at City Hall. While Councilors Sinclair and Harris have broken ranks to float proposals for immediate land-use freezes, the revocation of automated staff sign-offs, and 1.5% utility power surcharges, the administration’s data package remains completely silent on the real financial trade-offs of these decisions. For instance, staff proudly points to a current pool of $1.34 billion in tenant personal property tax value at just the QTS Campus to indicate that data centers pay their fair share, yet their charts conveniently skip over the fact that the city’s standard, newly minted Enterprise Zone contracts appear to explicitly grant up to a four-year total tax exemption on those exact personal property assets. Dumped on the public just hours before a special session, this incomplete data pack ignores the reality that these multi-decade “rolling” deals may have already gutted the very future revenues staff is using to defend them.  This requires a deep breath and a whole lot more information- complete information.

Hillsboro does not need more curated case studies; we need an immediate, unredacted, and total financial audit. Publishing a mountain of complex material right before the doors open prevents the public and the Council from meaningfully dissecting the loopholes buried within the text. If local leadership wants to prove they are operating in good faith, they must pause this choreographed presentation and mandate a clear, separate ledger for every single approved property. The people of Hillsboro have a right to see the hard numbers, unabated real market values stacked directly against the heavily abated pennies we are actually collecting, before the remaining industrial footprint of our city is signed away through the year 2051.

And some of our Councilors are follwoing in Kipperlyn Sinclair’s lead and offering specific propsals to reign in this rising Data Center disaster;

The public has a right to know if these contrasting approaches will be openly debated or quietly managed behind closed doors:

Is Councilor Sinclair’s procedural challenge a direct threat to staff’s authority? The proposals indicate that Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair is proposing a high-impact Resolution that strikes right at the heart of the “ministerial duty” defense. Citing state administrative rules, Sinclair is pushing for an immediate revocation of staff’s automated signature power. If confirmed, would this resolution force all pending and future enterprise zone tax exemptions onto the council dais for a public hearing and a recorded majority vote?

Will Councilor Harris’s timeline delay real code changes until 2027? In contrast to an immediate freeze, Councilor Rob Harris’s memo appears proposes a multi-year timeline that pushes serious ordinance revisions down the road to mid-2027, under the logic of waiting for state advisory reports and legislative sessions. He makes some more definitive moves which are good. Does this slow-walk approach inadvertently leave a massive multi-year window wide open for un-permitted “ghost sites” to permanently vest their land-use rights before the city ever changes its rules?   Furthermore, Harris is openly proposing an additional 1.5% utility surcharge on large energy users (which we presented to the Council last week), That revenue alternative needs to be financially modeled for the public asap.

Does Councilor Salgado’s framework leave the door open for smaller data centers? Councilor Cristian Salgado’s memo attempts to split hairs by suggesting the city differentiate between “smaller facilities,” “co-location sites,” and “hyperscale AI campuses.” Does this tiered approach create a massive administrative loophole? If the city tries to regulate data centers based on arbitrary layout definitions rather than a uniform utility cap—like a 2-Megawatt power ceiling—are we simply inviting developers to re-label their projects to escape local regulation?

Guess what.  We have movement.  But it appears it will be late to the party, and we need action now as more and more properties and Data Centers are lining up for their turn, and we have days, not weeks or months to react.  We have said it before, having reviewed all remaining land in Hillsboro on sites zoned for industrial uses.  We find that almost every acre that could be a Data Center, or perhaps a substation or BESS Battery array to serve a Data Center, is under option or a purchase contract.  All of this effort is coming at a time when the door is closing on any changes having any real effectiveness.

One thing is clear.  Tina Kotek needs to immediately take action on the Enterprise Zone rules that allow Data Centers to employ a few people and receive hundreds of Millions in tax abatements.  With no income taxes from these behemoths, and now little to no Property taxes, we have no reason to promote their continued proliferation.  Only Kotek can do that, and she can act immediately.  Granted, House Bill 4084 is now in effect, so there won’t be any more “deals” for some time.  Giving the world’s largest corporations a tax break to build is marginally tolerable because the construction jobs and permits provide some short-term benefits. Paying for billions in computers with tax forfeitures, and then, in 4 or 5 years, allowing those companies with fully depreciated equipment to invest in new equipment, which we will pay for again…. that is complete lunacy.  And what are those computers doing as they hum away, powering AI?  They are stealing our resources, our power, and putting many of you reading this today completely out of work!

Lunacy.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The Original Story – 6-9-26 -8 AM

Tonight at 6 PM at the Hillsboro City Hall, residents are encouraged to come and listen as the Hillsboro staff presents more information to our City Council about Data Centers in Hillsboro.  Be prepared for a long one with lots of pretty slides and information.  We have just reviewed all of it and find it overwhelming and still scripted to show the positives of Data Centers.  But look for yourselves and make your own decisions.  The devil, as they say, is always in the details.  And this is a HUGE amount of data and printed info to even begin to deal with.  But here we are, and the Council has a serious job ahead now.

One slide will verify what the Herald has been saying and working on regarding the millions in taxes we waive when we do these Enterprise Zone Deals –  it is in the hundreds of Millions and totally unjustified because we are not receiving many long-term jobs nor other benefits.

Read that bottom right corner.  Estimated total taxes imposed if not in abatement – $42.78 Million.  Beyond that, the Personal Property Taxes are not showing on the County Tax Statements.   We have sent requests by phone, email, and other means to both the County and the City regarding why the Personal Property Taxes are not showing, and for an accounting of them.  No responses yet that answer that question.

To read up on and review what is being presented tonight, open this link- there are 58 slides here –

There are many Councilor Memos on the Agenda tonight as well; many seem to have developed good talking points and very specific Policy points.  So you can review all of that here. https://hillsboro-oregon.civicweb.net/document/260361/Combined%20Council%20Memos.pdf?handle=9292F371D338475C9B250292A36EBD98

There is enough content on the Agenda tonight to take up 3 meetings of 5 hours each.  How much the Council gets done tonight remains to be seen.

DIGITAL REALTY COMING TO TANASBOURNE?

At the last City Council meeting, we identified 5 new “potential sites” that could soon become Data Centers.  This massive site at the Gateway to Tanasbourne is now owned by Digital Beaver, which, at last check, is the holding entity for Digital Realty.  Is this where we want a massive Data Center complex with all of the negative health and noise studies coming out?  And yet here we are, helpless as a City to say no potentially. How fast can the Council move?

Key Questions from the Herald:

• Why is there no detailed accounting of how many Millions or tens of Millions annually that the Enterprise Zone Property Tax Waivers forfeit every year?  These lost revenues starve Washington County, schools, and many other tax zones, so why are there no accessible numbers?  How can we make policy when no one knows these numbers?
• Where did all of the Millions in Community Service Fee Revenues that Hillsboro receives really go?  Last year, the number was $32 million. We reviewed the budgets, but that money is not tracked.  So where did it all go?
• Are the Personal Property Taxes shown above General Fund monies?  And didn’t we just forfeit that money with rolling/stacking 5-year enterprise zone deals?
• How much money did the 18 new Enterprise Zone Agreements forfeit, assuming the values and tax abatements are calculated using the next tax year’s data?  Is it hundreds of Millions?

This is the special session we needed to have when Councilors Kipperlyn Sinclair and Olivia Alcaire asked for one 5 weeks ago- we are now so late in reviewing all of this that most of the land is gone to data centers, and most of the deals are done!

Nonetheless, the real work is starting, and we look forward to complete transparency and communication.  Well, one can dream!  See you guys there tonight.

MEETING INFO IS HERE:  It is Tuesday Night Market tonight.  Take the MAX, walk, or get to City Hall early.