Port Washington passes bill to give public say in data center TID approvals

By Jon Styf
The Center Square

The city of Port Washington approved a referendum Tuesday that would require future projects worth more than $10 million to be approved by taxpayers before being added to a tax increment district.

The initiative, in response to a large-scale AI data center in the city, passed with 2,710 votes of approval compared to 1,371 in opposition. More than 50% of the 8,257 registered Port Washington voters voted in the election.

The initiative came in response to an $8 billion data center project that is expected to receive more than $450 million in property tax breaks along with not paying state sales tax on everything from construction to the servers inside to electricity at the site, which is estimated to require as much electricity as the city of Los Angeles once fully operational.

“Tonight, democracy worked the way it’s supposed to,” said Great Lakes Neighbors Incorporated member Christine Le Jeune in a statement. “Over 1,000 residents signed the petition that put this measure on the ballot, and tonight Port Washington voters spoke with one clear voice. The people deserve a seat at the table when their tax dollars are on the line.”

Data centers have shown to be unpopular with voters as 69% of Wisconsin voters in a recent Marquette poll said that they believe that the cost of data centers outweigh the benefits.

Republican candidate for governor and Congressman Tom Tiffany vowed to “end subsidies for data centers in Wisconsin” if he becomes governor.

Wisconsin comedian Charlie Berens has also been outspoken about the secrecy and impact of data centers, especially the Port Washington project and process. Berens testified in support of a bill to block non-disclosure agreements at data centers that did not pass the Legislature before session closed.

Le Jeune and two others from Great Lakes Neighbors United were removed from a public meeting on the Port Washington project in December by police when, after her allotted three minutes to speak in public comment, she shouted “shame” and “recall” as she headed to her seat.

Video from the meeting then showed a police officer approaching Le Jeune in the audience and asking her to leave.

Le Jeune would not leave and then a second officer approached and then began pulling on her arms to remove her from the meeting. Le Jeune and two others were then taken to the floor in the meeting room and handcuffed before being removed from the building.