The Real Story – A Column
The Hillsboro School Bond for $430,000,000 is on the ballot. As a lifelong community member, I believe we must vote yes on this bond and support our kids. But it is not fair that continued property tax giveaways to Data Centers and AI computing facilities load the debt onto Hillsboro homeowners’ backs while those companies pay next to nothing. We’ve included key takeaways if you need a quick read. The Real Story expands on the Primer below. Have a quick look.
EXECUTIVE PRIMER: KEY TAKEAWAYS UP FRONT
The Bottom Line on Measure A:
The Hillsboro Herald endorses a YES vote on the Hillsboro School District’s $430 Million capital construction bond. Our 20,000 students cannot be made collateral damage for City Hall’s corporate tax policies.
The Immediate School Crisis: The bond funds urgent repairs across 37 neighborhood schools, including $18.5 Million to completely re-pipe failing plumbing and overhaul HVAC at Minter Bridge Elementary, $10.5 Million for a new roof and ventilation at Jackson Elementary, $28.1 Million for ADA safety and fume-hood remediation at HilHi, district-wide Advanced Computing Career Technical Education (CTE) labs, and so much more!
The Real Cost to Homeowners: In neighborhoods like Bentley Orchards (ZIP 97123), a median $585,000 single-family home carries an assessed value between $340,000 and $385,000. At the proposed $1.84 per $1,000 rate, that household will pay $625 to $708 more every year. Passing Measure A also forfeits an automatic $315 to $360 annual tax cut that homeowners were scheduled to receive this fall as older 2006 bonds retire.
DATA CENTERS WOULD BE PAYING up to 1/2 Of This Bond, but the Enterprise Zone Tax Forfeitures have them paying a tiny percentage- Example: Stack Infrastructure’s minimal payment: Certified county tax statements for Stack Infrastructure (Account R660010) prove that $728.39 million (77%) of its $943.5 million data center structure was exempted from taxation this year under the Enterprise Zone. On that single building shell alone, Stack is excused from paying $826,927 every year to the school bond—a 20-year corporate subsidy of $16.54 million that could fund the entire structural overhaul of Poynter Middle School.
The $11.22 Million Annual Tax Shift: The 12 abated data center entities in Hillsboro carry $6.1 Billion in Assessed Value. If taxed equitably at the ballot rate, data centers would pay $11.22 million annually, generating $224.48 million over 20 years—covering 52.2% of the entire $430 million bond principal. They are legally on the abatement special giveaways right now — that needs to end in 2027.
The Surcharge Shifted to Residents: Returning data centers to the tax rolls would expand the district’s base to $23.49 billion, dropping the required bond rate from $1.84 down to $1.36 per $1,000 AV. Exempting data centers forces an artificial +$0.48 per $1,000 AV surcharge (+26% tax hike) onto residential homeowners.
The Compounding TIF Drain: Under City Ordinance 6461, the North Hillsboro Industrial Renewal Area diverts another $156.5 million in property taxes directly away from the school district over 25 years to build industrial roads and sewer lines for technology campuses.
Disappointing School Board Silence: While capital bonds receive zero state backfill under Oregon’s equalization formula, the School Board has remained silent on these tax giveaways and the Enterprise Zone. It seems they are “playing nice” with City Hall. Cooperation with Hillsboro City Hall is a good goal, but it’s not required. We need bold leadership for our kids, and sitting in silence while big corporations take all the benefits and our strained residents suffer is no longer leadership we can live with. School Board member Ivette Pantoja, now running for City Council with heavy financial backing from the corporate Chamber of Commerce PAC, has, to our knowledge, not said a word about the issue. School Board member Patrick Maguire is the only board member we know of who has voiced interest. Voters would be wise not to advance Pantoja into City Hall.
The Call to Action: Vote YES for the kids in November, then mobilize in 2027 and 2028, when the Enterprise Zone expires, to elect leaders who will permanently terminate tax abatements for data centers, AI computing facilities, and battery storage plants.
NOW FOR THE FULL STORY
In-Depth Story
Here is the full and in-depth version of the story for those wanting a complete education on these matters, which mean so much for our kids!
Let me be clear — I am voting YES on Measure A, the $430 million Hillsboro School District construction bond, and I urge every resident in our community to do the same. I am not backing this measure because I trust the administrative machine at City Hall, and certainly not because I enjoy seeing our property tax bills climb. I support it because I refuse to punish our children for local politicians’ fiscal failures.
I am a product of Hillsboro public schools. I lived through the fallout of the failed school levies of the late 1970s. In 1979 and 1980, I was one of the students caught in the “triple shifts” at Hillsboro High School (HilHi). As a sophomore, I went to school from 12:30 to almost 8 PM, and for a while we had no bus service. The building was built to hold 1,500 kids, but over 3,000 of us were packed inside. We attended classes in staggered shifts from dawn until dusk; sports and after-school programs were gutted; and bus routes were slashed across the district. I saw firsthand what happens to a town when its schools crumble, and basic funding dries up. We cannot let that happen to the 20,000 children in our classrooms today.
The projects outlined in the district’s 72-page bond blueprint are not cosmetic upgrades. They are overdue, basic necessities to keep our schools open, safe, and structurally sound. Here are but a few examples:
Saving Neighborhood Elementary Classrooms: Look at Minter Bridge Elementary, which is slated for $18,536,651. The school needs a complete plumbing re-pipe, an overhaul of its aging heating and air systems, and modern fire-safety panels. At Jackson Elementary ($10,541,000), the funds will replace a failing roof and overhaul ventilation systems that are decades past their design life.
Fixing Our High Schools: At my alma mater, HilHi ($28,146,649), the bond funds urgently needed ADA accessibility upgrades, fume-hood remediation in chemistry labs, and critical roof and mechanical replacements. Across town at Glencoe High ($35,337,075), classrooms need major electrical distribution overhauls, seismic retrofits, and stage reconstruction.
Preparing Kids for Real Careers: Measure A invests directly in vocational education through Advanced Computing Career and Technical Education (CTE) Labs, updated classroom technology, and modernized trade training spaces across HilHi, Glencoe, Century, and Liberty. These programs give our kids a direct route into family-wage technical careers.
Our teachers and kids need this bond. But while I stand with our schools, we must have an honest conversation about the bill we have been handed.
The Reality on Our Street: What a Bentley Orchards Homeowner Will Pay-
Families across Hillsboro are managing tight budgets, grocery bills, climbing utility rates, and persistent inflation. Taking on additional debt is a significant burden. Consider what this bond means in established neighborhoods like Bentley Orchards in South Hillsboro (ZIP 97123), where classic single-level ranch homes built in the 1970s now carry a median market value of approximately $585,000.
Families across Hillsboro are managing tight budgets, grocery bills, climbing utility rates, and persistent inflation. Taking on additional debt is a significant burden. Consider what this bond means in established neighborhoods like Bentley Orchards in South Hillsboro (ZIP 97123), where classic single-level ranch homes built in the 1970s now carry a median market value of approximately $585,000.
Because Oregon’s Measure 50 limits annual taxable assessed value growth to 3%, that $585,000 home is not taxed on its full market price. Its taxable Assessed Value (AV) typically falls between $340,000 and $385,000.
At the district’s proposed bond rate of $1.84 per $1,000 of Assessed Value, that homeowner in Bentley Orchards will pay $625 to $708 every year in bond taxes alone:
The campaign literature states that Measure A maintains a “level rate” that “keeps taxes consistent”. What is omitted from those mailers is that taxpayers just finished paying off the district’s 2006 capital bonds. If Measure A fails, local property tax rates will drop by approximately $0.93 per $1,000 AV.
For that family in Bentley Orchards, voting YES means giving up an automatic $315 to $360 annual tax cut that would otherwise appear on their tax bill this fall.
Working homeowners are carrying this load alone because the City of Hillsboro has granted billions of dollars in property tax exemptions to multinational data centers through the Enterprise Zone Property Tax Abatement Program.
The Certified Receipts: Stack Infrastructure’s $728 Million Exemption –
To see how this disparity works in practice, examine the certified 2026–27 Washington County Property Tax Statement for Stack Infrastructure (Account R660010), located at 4735 NE Starr Boulevard in North Hillsboro:
Total Structure Market Value (RMV): $943,592,980 (nearly $1 billion) . Market Exemption under Enterprise Zone: $728,390,240. Net Assessed Value (Taxable Remainder): $138,965,450
The City granted Stack an Enterprise Zone abatement that removed 77.2% of that structure’s value from the tax rolls.
On the fraction that remained taxable, Stack paid $208,295.31 this year toward the school bond. Dividing that payment by the $138.96 million assessed value confirms the current bond tax rate on the rolls: $1.4989 (or $1.50) per $1,000 AV.
Passing Measure A will increase that rate from $1.50 up to $1.84—a +22.7% tax hike on current bills.
If the $728.39 million in abated building value were placed on the tax roll (applying the County’s commercial Changed Property Ratio of 0.617 to establish an Assessed Value of $449.4 million), Stack Infrastructure would owe $826,927 every year toward our school bond at the $1.84 rate. Over a standard 20-year repayment schedule, that single data center building shell is excused from paying $16.54 million to Hillsboro schools.
That single corporate tax break would fund the entire renovation of Poynter Middle School ($10.98M), with millions left over.
Stack is just one big building on the Hillsboro Data Center Plains.
The Numbers: Data Centers Could Fund Half the Bond
According to official data center inventory disclosures published by the City of Hillsboro, there are 12 data center entities currently receiving active Enterprise Zone property tax abatements across the city. Combined, those 12 abated entities carry an assessed value of $6.1 Billion. That is the City of Hillsboro’s own discounted Assessed Value figure.
The resulting math demonstrates the extent of the tax shift:
Abated Data Center Assessed Value (City Disclosures) … $6,100,000,000
Proposed Measure A School Bond Rate … $1.84 / $1,000
What Data Centers Would Pay into the Bond Fund EVERY YEAR … $11,224,000
What Data Centers Would Pay Over a 20-Year Bond Term … $224,480,000
What Data Centers Would Pay Over a 25-Year Bond Term … $280,600,000
DATA CENTERS’ Potential SHARE OF THE $430M BOND PRINCIPAL: 52.2% TO 65.3% of the entire bond.
This assumes these same Data Centers were not on the Enterprise Zone Abatement, which they are legally on. But we write this so you all understand what is at stake in the future! We can not continue with this madness and have our kids and homeowners buried under these costs.
If the district added $6.1 billion in data center value to its non-exempt base ($17.39 billion), the total taxable base would expand to $23.49 billion.
- Data centers would represent 26% of Hillsboro’s total taxable property wealth.
- Data centers would pay 26% of every bond payment—absorbing more than $166 million in total principal and interest.
- The tax rate for every Hillsboro homeowner would drop from $1.84 to $1.36 per $1,000 AV.
- By exempting data centers, City Hall shifts an artificial +$0.48 per $1,000 rate surcharge (+26% tax hike) onto residential homeowners.
- Over 20 to 25 years, financing a $430 million bond incurs $210 million to $250 million in municipal bond interest. Had these large industrial power consumers paid their share, the district could have reduced its borrowing, saving taxpayers millions in long-term interest charges.
The Concealed Personal Property Ledger
These figures account only for Real Property—the exterior concrete building shells and the land beneath them.
The largest capital investment inside a data center sits on the server floor: high-density racks, GPU clusters, and power systems. This Business Personal Property (BPP) routinely costs three to five times more than the building structure.
Online property mapping searches exclude personal property accounts and shield them under state disclosure rules. On the QTS campus alone, an unindexed $1.34 billion personal property pool exists.
If Hillsboro placed the full value of the computing equipment inside its 18+ data center sites on the tax rolls, data centers would account for 40% to 50% of the entire tax base, pushing the residential bond rate below $1.00 per $1,000 AV. These are not fictitious numbers; they are based on real-world data and formulas.
Instead, that equipment depreciates under tax holidays, only to be rolled into new Enterprise Zone extensions prior to legislative moratoria. If successful, the pending litigation against the City of Hillsboro will bring massive benefits to our schools—so here’s to that outcome!
School Board Silence and the Equalization Misconception
The Hillsboro School Board has remained silent on the impact of these Enterprise Zone abatements.
When questioned about lost school revenues, city officials point to the 1991 K-12 School Equalization Formula, claiming state funding replaces lost local property taxes. That formula does not apply to capital construction bonds.
The State School Fund equalizes operational funding for instruction and staffing; it provides zero dollars to backfill local construction bonds. When a data center pays zero toward a capital bond, that revenue is lost, and the fixed debt obligation falls onto remaining taxpayers.
District leadership has not publicly addressed this dynamic. School Board member Ivette Pantoja, currently campaigning for Hillsboro City Council, has not commented on these tax abatements or their direct link to the school bond. The Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce PAC, an organization financed by corporate donors, backed Pantoja, and The Herald examined it in its reporting on local campaign contributions. Voters would be wise not to advance Pantoja to the City Council and to seek stronger, more vocal leaders, in our opinion.
The Vote in November and the Fight in 2027
The City Council established the framework for this tax shift in 2017 by updating local Enterprise Zone rules to provide five-year, 100% property tax abatements for facilities that generate few permanent jobs relative to their physical size.
Former Mayor Steve Callaway signed that urban renewal ordinance, and he now co-chairs the bond committee asking residents to fund the $430 million school measure. Seems dystopian now! strange really.
The policy is flawed, but the students should not bear the cost.
If voters reject Measure A, school roofs will continue to deteriorate, aging pipes will remain in service, and maintenance costs will rise. Hillsboro students should not be penalized for municipal tax decisions made elsewhere.
Vote YES on Measure A, and then address the underlying policy.
The City of Hillsboro’s Enterprise Zone program is scheduled for renewal in 2027 and 2028. Residents must evaluate candidates for City Council, Mayor, and County Commission on whether they will work to end Enterprise Zone tax abatements for data centers, AI computing facilities, and battery storage installations.
Support our schools this November, and organize to ensure corporate infrastructure is funded equitably in the future!
For voters reviewing the ballot measure and looking for where to drop off their ballots or official election information, Washington County residents can contact the Washington County Elections Division to verify their registration, find official drop box locations, or track their ballot return.
