A Technology Leader’s First Year: A Guide for Counties and Cities

By the Founders, Department of Technology | San Diego, California | November 13, 2026

Most county boards and city councils are being asked to approve the largest infrastructure projects in their history with a planning staff built for strip malls. This is a practical first-year guide for the person whose job it should be to fix that.

Our proposal calls for elected technology leaders at the local and county level. What would one actually do? Everything below has been tried somewhere, in communities of different sizes and politics. We cite examples as examples, not endorsements, and we flag where the evidence is thin. Local law varies, so check with your county attorney before adopting anything binding.

Months 1 to 3: Find out what is coming, and stop the clock

Inventory the pipeline. Ask your utility how many large-load connection requests are sitting in your territory, how many megawatts they represent, and how many are speculative or duplicated. This matters. AEP Ohio was facing 30 gigawatts of potential new load before it adopted a data center tariff, and one analysis found its pipeline fell from roughly 30 GW to 13 GW after the tariff took effect, suggesting much of the reported demand was speculative or duplicated across utilities. A local government that cannot tell the real projects from the placeholders cannot plan.

End by-right approval. In March, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors eliminated by-right zoning for data centers. Harrisonburg, Virginia, moved data centers to special-use permits, which routes proposals through public hearings and discretionary review. A Brookings researcher has recommended never allowing by-right data center development. Where a pause is needed, treat it as a tool with a work plan and an end date. A Federation of American Scientists review found that local moratoria share the same stated rationale: the zoning code does not yet define data centers, so the jurisdiction needs time to study impacts and draft rules.

Ask the standard questions. Cuyahoga County’s playbook urges communities to ask about power demand, water use, grid upgrades, backup generators, jobs, infrastructure costs and decommissioning plans. Put those questions in writing and make every applicant answer them in public.

Months 4 to 6: Write the rules

Linn County, Iowa, adopted one of the most detailed local frameworks so far. Its ordinance requires a water study as part of the zoning application and a water-use agreement with the county before construction, and it also covers noise, light, road use and decommissioning bonds. The board finalized it unanimously after three readings and multiple public hearings. In Scott County, Kentucky, a draft ordinance would bar data centers from prime farmland and wetlands, require developers to pay for water system upgrades, and require a cleanup bond.

One caution. Jefferson County’s committee worked to keep its draft legally defensible under recent Supreme Court rulings on land-use exactions. In general, what you demand has to relate to the project’s actual impacts. Have counsel review the ordinance before you adopt it.

Months 6 to 9: Get a seat in the rate case

Your county does not set electricity rates, but it lives with them. The state utility commission does the setting, and many have recently created separate rules for the largest customers. According to the Edison Electric Institute, 23 states had approved at least one large-load tariff as of May 2026, with seven more pending. Ohio’s AEP tariff applies to data centers above 25 megawatts, requires them to pay at least 85 percent of contracted capacity and commits them to initial contracts of at least twelve years. Dominion’s Virginia tariff sets 14-year minimum contracts and $1.5 million per megawatt of collateral. A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory brief lists minimum billing demand, exit fees and collateral as common building blocks.

Find out whether your utility has such a tariff and, if not, whether a proceeding is pending. In many states, local governments can file comments or intervene, so ask your counsel. A county technology leader’s job is to make sure the people who live there are represented where the cost allocation is decided.

Months 7 to 9: Negotiate in public

Use community benefit agreements, carefully. The Federation of American Scientists found only eight data center community benefit agreements when it looked. Lancaster’s covers transparency, water, energy, noise, public works and decommissioning, but the reviewers noted it leaves much of the substance to be decided later, and that tax breaks can outweigh any financial benefit a community receives. The lesson is to write numbers and enforcement into the agreement now.

Do not sign NDAs. Bloomberg Law reports that Microsoft is working to end any active NDAs governments have signed. Proposed Minnesota legislation would require at least two public hearings and disclosure of key details, including the company behind a project. You do not need to wait for a state law. A local government can adopt a policy that it will not sign NDAs on development matters and will post proposals, incentive terms and cost-benefit analyses on its website.

Months 10 to 12: Budget for the upside and the downside

Data center revenue can be a windfall, and it can be a trap. We cover the budgeting in a companion piece, “What Every County Treasurer Should Model Before AI Layoffs.” For your first-year report, the minimum is this: publish how much of your general fund depends on data centers, what happens to that revenue if equipment values fall, and what reserve you are holding against it.

Then publish the whole first year in plain language: projects reviewed, conditions imposed, public hearings held and agreements signed.

Your first week

1. Ask the utility for the pipeline numbers. Megawatts, projects and status.
2. Check your zoning. Is a data center allowed by right anywhere in your jurisdiction?
3. Find out what has been signed. Any NDAs, development agreements or incentive deals.

The case against our case

• Data centers pay more than they cost. Speakers at a National Taxpayers Union discussion said Loudoun County receives about $26 in tax revenue for every $1 spent on services for data centers. Industry advocates argue that heavy requirements and delays can send projects, and that revenue, elsewhere. Loudoun itself credits favorable zoning and fast approvals for accelerating its growth, even though it later ended by-right approval. A good technology leader should make the process predictable and fast for projects that meet the standards, not just slower.
• Small counties lack the expertise. A rural county may not be able to staff a water study or a rate-case intervention. That argues for shared staff across counties, or for state technical help, and we would support both.
• Legal limits are real. Exaction rules constrain what localities can demand, and, as the FAS review shows, many agreements stay vague. This is a reason to involve counsel early, not to skip the work.
• It might not need to be an elected office. A county could assign this to a staff director. Our view is that elected officials are accountable to voters for the tradeoffs, but a staff role is a sensible first step.

Start with one question

If your community is being asked to approve a data center this year, ask the person proposing it a single question: who in our government is responsible for the whole picture of power, water, land, taxes and jobs? If the answer is nobody, that is the position to fill. Find our proposal at department.technology/.