EXCLUSIVE: Data Center Developer, Digital Realty, Offers Every Household In De Soto, Kansas $1,000 In Utility And Property Tax Credits For 10 Years, As Part Of A $20 Million Community Investment Tied To A Planned 280-Acre Data Center Site 🤯💥

[u/InterstellarKinetics]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kansas-data-center-1000-dollars-neighbors-opposition/

Digital Realty is offering every household in De Soto, Kansas, $1,000 in utility and property tax credits annually for 10 years as part of a $20 million community investment connected to its planned data center. The company said the credits are intended to help strengthen the community as it develops an initial 280-acre site that will eventually expand to 1,400 acres. Digital Realty president and CEO Andy Power said the company builds critical infrastructure and believes it has a responsibility to support the communities that make that growth possible. The company said it is working with De Soto to finalize how the $1,000 credits will be distributed to households. The article does not say when payments would begin, whether renters and homeowners receive the credits equally, or whether the offer is contingent on project approval or completion.

Digital Realty, a publicly traded Austin-based company with a market value above $67 billion, said the project would generate recurring tax revenue, create jobs, and provide other economic benefits. It expects to create 250 permanent jobs for local suppliers and contractors once the site is complete, while the initial development phase would support “thousands of construction jobs over time.” Those figures come from the company’s news release and are projections, not verified employment outcomes. Digital Realty’s clients include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The article does not provide the project’s total cost, expected electricity or water use, or a construction timeline.

The offer comes amid growing public resistance to data center construction in the United States. A recent CBS News poll found that more Americans oppose than favor building a new data center in their area, citing concerns about environmental harm, pressure on local resources, and higher utility costs. The article does not include De Soto-specific polling or detail local opposition to Digital Realty’s project. It also does not say whether the $20 million commitment was negotiated with local officials or whether residents had a role in shaping the terms.

[u/Green_Sugar6675]

Credits? So for property owners, and for the utilities, I'll be those credits will be eaten up really fast by increased cost per Watt.

[u/FogBankDeposit → u/Green_Sugar6675]

And we would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you pesky meddling kids, ya see 🦹🏻‍♂️

[u/InterstellarKinetics]

The $1,000 annual credit is a direct attempt to convert broad community opposition into local support, but its value should be measured against the project’s full costs. Over 10 years, the credit totals $10,000 per household. Therefore, that may be meaningful for residents, but it’s a small share of a $20 million commitment spread across an entire town, and it does not by itself answer concerns about electricity demand, water use, noise, construction disruption, or long-term effects on utility rates.

[u/NewTypeDilemna → u/InterstellarKinetics]

Only 10 grand to sell out your children's futures to the ultra rich

[u/sokuyari99 → u/NewTypeDilemna]

No doubt they’ll find a way to stop paying before a full decade is up, so likely less than 10k to sell out your children

[u/Alert_Lettuce_8278 → u/sokuyari99]

No they will just partner with the electrical company to charge more and make back.

Actually maybe both. There's no trusting the rich these days, they have not done a single thing to earn it.

[u/ReadyGo6828 → u/sokuyari99]

That is also over ten years with inflation heating up again so that is not even $10K today. Then they could get bought out or go bankrupt in order not to pay bills and who knows how much is even realized?

[u/Nonethelessismore → u/sokuyari99]

And they would probably make any recipient of the tax credit sign some sort of NDA that prevents people from talking about noise pollution, or other environmental factors. Or restrict local councils from making any changes based on those concerns.

[u/ctoatb → u/sokuyari99]

10 years isn't that long of a time for DeSoto Kansas. It's a short commute to Kansas City. The kids will probably leave while the parents stay. What I mean is that they would be selling out themselves, not their children. It's a short term bribe that will either leave residents destitute or lead them to move.

[u/randomBugHunter → u/ctoatb]

You can’t move if you can’t sell your house

[u/ctoatb → u/randomBugHunter]

Yes you can. You could move, but you're stuck with the house

[u/Aggravating-Art2814 → u/NewTypeDilemna]

10k might be a vaguely meaningful number but a $1,000 tax credit per year is I mean…. What does that even calculate out to? Something closer to $200 a year in tax savings? If you even pay taxes. 

[u/Farucci → u/NewTypeDilemna]

They’ll do it.

[u/Rope_slingin_champ → u/NewTypeDilemna]

I mean, boomers did it for less

[u/napkin41 → u/NewTypeDilemna]

Over ten years. What a joke.

[u/MelodicStop- → u/NewTypeDilemna]

That’s why they love the uneducated.

[u/MyrrhSlayter → u/InterstellarKinetics]

The noise and lights alone are going to start driving people insane.

[u/stamosface → u/InterstellarKinetics]

So a bribe

[u/ClownTown509]

Make deals with the Devil and you know exactly what you will get.

[u/OneManLost]

When did AI become critical infrastructure?

And when did these unknown and new start up companies become so fucking important we have to kill our planet and destroy our societies to build and run these businesses?

[u/m0nk37 → u/OneManLost]

It can produce ideas and deliver solutions faster than teams of people. Its already working in unison. It knows all studies. It memorized every single literature needed for something. And links all of it together. Thats the selling point. 

Maintaining that is negligible. But the cost is data centers affecting the people whose jobs it took. 

The jobs it took are its revenue because once everyone is displaced then there is nobody to spend a dime on the services they offer. Nor for the serviced offered by the business that used them.

This caters only to the 1%  

Everyone else, haha, good luck. 

[u/fellow-skids → u/m0nk37]

It is also toxically positive and sycophantic, makes things up, and ignores guardrails, and was built on theft…. But go off.

[u/m0nk37 → u/fellow-skids]

Oh you think i was supporting them? I wasn't. 

1% vs 99% wouldnt point out facts then insult the 99%  

[u/fellow-skids → u/m0nk37]

99% of what? You’re sniffing farts or high on your own supply, you don’t represent 99% of anything 🤣

[u/BrotherJebulon]

Make it $12,000 annually, and make it last until the kids are dead or the family moves.

Its like barons and lords don't even know how to properly bribe the peasantry anymore.

Fucking ridiculous.

[u/sizeablefrontallobe → u/BrotherJebulon]

You’re still WAYY off. They can manipulate markets, prices, inflation… 12k/yr in 10 yrs will be 5k in today’s dollars. And down it goes from there. Meanwhile, your data still flows and the centers keep churning.

[u/WaltEnterprises → u/BrotherJebulon]

I think they understand how pathetically poor everyone is. They thought propanda would be enough so now they are trying scraps.

[u/sklerson89]

and they will be shocked when their electricity bill is $300 in 2 years  

[u/Life_Argument7820]

That is so not enough! $1,000/mo MINIMUM for life of the data center

[u/Relevant-Doctor187]

Buy them a 25kwh solar system with 20kwh backup power and then it might be worth the time.

[u/StrikingSweet9065]

Wow what a convincing bribe! /s

[u/BadAtExisting]

Bribes say what?

[u/Basement_Chicken]

"...They promise the sky and the Moon, And they keep coming and going, And going and coming... And always too soon!.. I'm sooo tired...."

[u/Bad_Sickness]

Oh so that's the UBI then, huh? Yeah totally worth tearing up acres of land that could have been homes, wildlife refugees, etc. Totally worth it. Enjoy the surveillance state!

[u/ReadyGo6828]

You get sick like those people near a data center creating noxious fumes, you lose value in your home, you go crazy from the incessant humming or the blinding lights at night and you get a measly $1K a year?

[u/Joosecaboose]

I think a day in the average hospital clears 10k. If your health is impacted by living near the data center, you may exceed that pittance in the blink of an eye.

[u/YisitAlwaysDNS]

stop building near communities and put the money up for closed cooling systems

[u/haunted_buffet]

That’s not enough

[u/spaceradiowave]

Nooooooo don’t sell your soul to the devil

[u/Cama_lama_dingdong]

Ha. Then the city starts adding on more taxes so that in 5 years that $1000 isnt much of a help.

[u/Saneless]

Thems break even to negative. My electric bills after our dozens of new centers is like 1500 a year

Make it 10K a year

[u/DRM842]

Pyramid Scheme 101

[u/Straight_Log8996]

I have a better solution

[u/PennyG]

It’s bullshit. They won’t pay

[u/chibebe5]

How much will it cost to restore their mental health after it's built?

[u/Dense_Boss_7486]

What these data centers should be forced to do is guarantee, at least the current value of your home if you decide to move, before the data center is publicly announced at a site. I have to imagine with the noise, utility rates etc. once these centers go online the property values in the surrounding areas are going to drop.

[u/Old_Channel44]

What’s that after taxes? $650?

[u/beaded_lion59]

How about paying all their utilities for ten years.

[u/Rich_Personality_920]

Just think of the sticker shock at year 11. You will have to move and they get cheap land to extend that monstrosity.

[u/Exitbuddy1]

So landlords get more money and renters can get fucked?

[u/EfficiencyBrief2138]

So sharing the incentives they got from the local community back to them?

[u/yusill]

1000 bucks. So 3 months of utilities or so.

[u/thorn2040]

No.

[u/Serpentongue]

These data centers will be technologically obsolete in 18 months without new investments into the latest current technology. Good luck getting 10 years of payments

[u/No_Party5870]

how can a private company offer tax credits?

[u/CovidWarriorForLife]

more than the government will give them to be fair

[u/Routine_Top4775 → u/CovidWarriorForLife]

Why would the government be involved in this at all?