[burger_moon]

> Governor McAuliffe approved a $1.25 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Fauquier County with the project. The company will also be eligible to receive sales and use tax exemptions on equipment.

Was this worth 54 (unspecified types) jobs? I guess It's not that bad since it doesn't mention property tax exemption which usually goes along with new developments.

[cosmie]

I'm not sure what the average salaries look like for data center employees, but assuming a reasonable, round figure of $50k/year, that's about $2.7mm/year in additional area income. Which has a multiplicative effect as it gets spent in the local economy and supports other area jobs. It also costs a lot of money to build out a data center and get all the infrastructure in place to support it, and that money gets spent (idealistically) on local contractors.

Plus, once the area infrastructure, local zoning/regulations, and talent pool gets built out to support this type of project, it becomes a lot more attractive for other companies to bring similar projects.

Tax exemptions to attract business can get real shady and dubious, but it's not just the permanent, direct jobs you have to factor in. The potential positive externalities in this case seem like a solid case for tax exemptions. And the grant helps absorb some of the cost of getting local infrastructure in place that'll be needed to support it; infrastructure that'll benefit more than just OVH.