Vigo Council Weighs Data Center Incentive Ban

Vigo County Council Resolution 2026-5 would establish a prospective policy against new property-tax abatements, discretionary county appropriations and other county financial incentives for data centers and projects undertaken primarily to support them, according to a Notice to Taxpayers that reprints the full draft.

The resolution defines a data center as a facility primarily used to house servers, digital storage, cloud or artificial-intelligence computing, cryptocurrency mining equipment or related information technology infrastructure. It also covers electrical, water, sewer, road and other infrastructure built primarily for a data center's benefit. County financial incentives under the draft include discretionary grants, subsidies, loans, loan guarantees, tax abatements and similar commitments of county resources.

Under the draft, the council would not approve new property-tax abatements or new economic revitalization area designations for those projects, and it would not approve new discretionary appropriations primarily intended to subsidize them, including through intermediaries. Existing lawful abatements, enforceable contracts, court orders, emergency spending, ordinary public-infrastructure maintenance and spending required by law would remain outside the ban. The measure would not bar a data center from locating where otherwise allowed and would not strip other units of government of their own statutory powers. The policy would take effect on adoption and would apply only going forward.

An earlier Notice to Taxpayers set a public hearing for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, and consideration for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, both in the Council Chambers at the Vigo County Government Center, 127 Oak Street in Terre Haute. A separate Nov. 2 notice moved the council's regular November meetings to 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, and 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23, in the Council Chambers at the Vigo County Annex, 121 Oak Street. The county meetings calendar now lists a Council Sunshine Meeting on Nov. 16 and a Council Voting Meeting on Nov. 23 at the Annex.

No agenda or minutes confirming any action on Resolution 2026-5 at a Nov. 4 session appear in the county Document Center as of Monday, Nov. 9. The county's posted 2026 schedule still shows the original Nov. 4 and Nov. 10 dates.

Commissioner Mark Clinkenbeard said in March that the county had not received a formal data-center proposal, according to a Tribune-Star report of a League of Women Voters candidate forum, carried by Yahoo News.