Mecklenburg County's data centers offer North Carolina a preview of the debate

As North Carolina communities debate data center moratoriums, WRAL looked at Mecklenburg County, Virginia, where residents have lived alongside the industry for years, the Raleigh station reported on Oct. 29.

Mecklenburg County, on the Virginia-North Carolina border, is home to about 30,000 people and 10 data center campuses, most of them owned by Microsoft, which announced its arrival in the county in 2010. WRAL reported that Virginia has roughly 700 active or planned data center projects, more than five times as many as North Carolina.

County officials told WRAL the industry has been a financial boon. County Administrator Alex Gottschalk said data centers now account for roughly 45% of the county's general fund budget and 25% to 30% of its overall budget. He said data center revenue also allowed about $1.5 million in reductions, including lower personal property tax rates and the elimination of the vehicle registration fee and consumer utility tax. One data center site, he noted, was formerly a state correctional facility that produced no direct revenue for the county and is now among its highest tax-producing properties. Chase City Mayor Alden Fahringer said the revenue has let localities make improvements they otherwise could not, adding, "Life is slowly trickling back into small towns like mine."

Neighbors are divided. Robert Bruce, who lives next to a data center construction site in Chase City, told WRAL he supports the industry and called it "the sign of progress." Katie and Sadie Snyder, who also live next to the site, said noise, traffic and environmental concerns have them looking for housing elsewhere. Boydton resident John Parker said he would have moved had he known a data center would be built nearby: "I moved off the grid, and now the grid is next door to me."

On water, WRAL obtained records through a public records request showing that in 2025, five data center campuses served by the Roanoke River Service Authority used 99 million of the 540 million gallons the authority provided, about 18%. Authority staff said residential customers have not seen higher prices because of data center demand. The Town of Clarksville, which is not on that system, delivered 20 million gallons to data centers in 2025, almost 11% of its total water consumption.

On electricity, the station cited a 2024 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report that found data centers were paying their allocated costs under existing rates but warned growing demand could raise costs for other customers. Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative told WRAL it has separate rates for large loads and that those customers fully cover the cost of dedicated substations. Dominion Energy said its recent rate increase was driven by inflation, not data centers, and that it builds infrastructure for total system load rather than individual customers. WRAL also noted the State Corporation Commission recently ordered Dominion to develop a policy for data centers to pay for transmission built exclusively for them.

The report also cited polling, including a recent WRAL/WSOC poll and Pew Research Center and University of Virginia research, indicating many Americans view data centers unfavorably, though UVA research found people living near one are more likely to tolerate them.

Mecklenburg County is a county in Southside Virginia. Its county seat is Boydton.