Business is Coming! Government Gets Ready

San Angelo City government is readying for significant business growth.  City Council, the Development Corporation and the Chamber of Commerce need to resolve lingering issues to take advantage of the coming boom.   Chamber Chief Steve Ahlenius expects significant projects over the next 18-24 months.  

The top position at the City of San Angelo Development Corporation (COSADC) remains unfilled after former Executive Director Guy Andrews "retired."  Assistant City Manager Michael Dane took on the interim leader role for COSADC.  

The Chamber of Commerce performs significant economic development duties for the Development Corporation.  At times City Council has taken a more confrontational approach to this contract.  That should end and any historical animus should be set aside.  Most of the players are new and capable of finding a way forward that encourages growth that benefits all the citizens of San Angelo, not just private equity backed Tech Giants with hard hurdle rates in terms of local taxes.

Balance is important and frankly, badly needed.  Council approved a three year 85% abatement of ad valorem taxes for the Zeppelin Battery Storage project prior to adding two new co-pays for retired city employees, many on miniscule monthly incomes.  The city will abate $2.4 million over three years for a project that provides virtually no jobs.

Mayor Tom Thompson nominated Councilman Tommy Hiebert for Mayor Pro Tem.  Tommy spent many years on the Development Corporation Board.

Chamber Economic Development Executive Mike Berry said projects under consideration could shift the burden of taxation from homeowners to corporations.  For that to happen City Council cannot abate, abate and abate.  There will be infrastructure needs associated with these projects, city staff has been chronically underpaid and commitments made to retirees years ago need to honored and prior damage reversed.

Things could get much wilder if the oilfield wakes up.  That money has made people do crazy things.  

Final note, the city giving away millions in tax money hollows out their longtime screed about Shannon Health's nonprofit status.  Shannon provides lots of local jobs, for now.  That used to be the purpose of Economic Development Corporations, recruitment of primary jobs.  Time will reveal what all this new "intelligent" technology will do to our community.  

Update 6-20-25:  CNBC reported on tax giveaways for data centers.  Texas is one such state.

Update 6-23-25:  Fox West Texas ran a story on West Texas data centers and the promise of taxation.  If history is any guide, San Angelo City Council will abate 80% or more of that promise.

San Angelo: Next Data Center Boom

Chamber of Commerce executive Mike Berry spoke with Tammy Ramos from KLST on the potential of incoming data centers.  Berry noted they could flip San Angelo's taxation from primarily residential to business dominated.  

Mike cited area draws for data center location include excess power availability, abundant land (cheaply priced), proximity to natural gas, onsite solar generation, as well as state tax incentives.

Berry shared that City and County leaders are focused on adding infrastructure to accommodate this growth.  The level of capital investment represents billions of dollars.  Tax revenue comes from added business investment.

Berry noted one transaction could "potentially flip the ratio and take the burden of property taxes off the resident and push it back over to the business side."

Tom Green County Commissioners Court and San Angelo's City Council have taken the lesser taxation approach to date with several recent economic development projects.  The City of San Angelo granted Peregrine Energy's Zeppelin Battery Storage Farm an 85% tax break for three years.  Tom Green County gave Doral Renewables LLC Cold Creek Solar project a significant tax abatement via a payment in lieu of taxes arrangement.

At the time of the Zeppelin tax break the City needed funds to help retirees on their city sponsored health insurance.  Council chose to add two new deductibles to loyal longtime employees, many on minimal retirement incomes.

Residents don't have to look far to see San Angelo's future, only 86 miles north in Abilene.  Lancium or Project Ludacris started as a bitcoin mining, cheap energy arbitrage play but got swallowed by AI and was "the first Stargate" featured at President Trump's AI event.

Big Country Homepage reported:

Taylor County commissioners agreed to amend a tax abatement for the Lancium project. This abatement will allow Lancium to forgo paying taxes on 80% of their property value to Taylor County for the next 10 years  

Once the first two buildings are occupied and the Lancium project is underway – Taylor County will see $4 million to $4.5 million a year in revenue.

That's nothing to scoff at but San Angelo's annual budget is much larger according to the city website:

The City of San Angelo is projecting $261.79 million of revenue in FY2025

San Angelo Live reported in 2022:

Residential property taxpayers comprise 71 percent of property tax revenue generated. Commercial property generates only 14 percent of money to the City general revenue fund via property taxes. The remaining 15 percent of property tax revenue comes from taxable personal property, inventory, and business fixtures.

Skybox Data Centers is coming and Cloudnium believes the next data center boom will occur in San Angelo (where they already have a presence):

San Angelo, Texas, is poised to become the next major data center boom location, thanks to its unique advantages and the visionary leadership of Cloudnium.net. With its central location, business-friendly environment, robust infrastructure, and emerging tech ecosystem, San Angelo offers unparalleled opportunities for data center investment and growth. As Cloudnium.net continues to lead the way, the city is set to become a key player in the global data center landscape, driving economic growth and innovation for years to come.

Visionary leadership of Cloudnium....how many fingers are in this pie?  

City retirees already felt the mis-prioritization of recent high-tech tax abatements.  Who's next to get short shrift so Lancium, Blackstone, Crusoe, Blue Owl Capital, Microsoft, OpenAI and Primary Digital Infrastructure can make big money?

Update 6-14-25:  Bloomberg did a video segment on StarGate and Abilene.  Primary job creation did not seem front and center in elected officials minds.

Update 6-23-25:  Fox West Texas ran a story on West Texas data centers and the promise of taxation.  If history is any guide, San Angelo City Council will abate 80% or more of that promise.