Though it may not be en vogue these days, Craig Johnson doesn’t hide his love of data centers.
On Tuesday night, the mayor of Elk Grove Village — home to 20 of the computer-storage sites — rattled off his latest boosterism:
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He led state legislators — who are mulling over regulations on the industry — on a data center tour; hosted a delegation from Osceola County, Florida considering a sprawling redevelopment; penned an op-ed in the baiduhai; and gave an interview on WGN radio.
Then he announced plans to distribute $200 gift cards to all 14,000 residential households in town, in what is the Northwest suburban municipality’s fifth major economic relief initiative since the start of the pandemic.
Even that had something to do with data centers: The $2.83 million program is entirely backed by one-time revenues received from the recent sales of two data center properties.
The $750 million sale of a building at 800 E. Devon Ave. generated $2.25 million in real estate transfer taxes in September.
In July, a $673 million data center sale at the Northwest Point business park yielded about $2 million for village coffers.
About 70 municipalities in Illinois have a local transfer tax, including Elk Grove Village, which charges $3 for every $1,000 of the purchase price.
The gift card move also comes in the wake of an analysis by the Illinois Answers Project and Tribune that showed active tax incentives on five data center complexes in Elk Grove Village erased more than $280 million in taxable value last year, adding up to about $14.5 million in total tax savings this year. Without those incentives, the average Elk Grove Village homeowner’s property tax bill would have been roughly $33 lower this year, according to the analysis.
A letter from the mayor and village board explaining the financial assistance program will go out to apartments, condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes this week, followed by another mailing with the prepaid plastic — in the form of a $200 Visa gift card labeled “Shop Elk Grove.”
“They help us in a lot of ways,” Johnson said of data centers. “This is just another way they’re helping us.”
The latest round of local economic relief — $200 gift cards also were sent in 2022 and 2024, while two $200 water bill credits were awarded in 2020 — comes as some residents still face “tough times” amid high gas and grocery costs, Johnson said.
But the newest relief payments also come amid increasing criticism from residents living near the WGN radio transmitter site on the west side of town, where a data center campus is proposed.
After the village board approved the gift cards expenditure on the consent agenda late Tuesday, two critics took to the public comment podium. Donato Latrofa, a village trustee candidate who lives near the WGN site, pressed Johnson and Deputy Village Manager Maggie Jablonski for details about the gift card initiative, including whether they’ve conducted any studies about the program’s benefits.
Roman Chmiel expressed concern about the potential for noise and other ill effects of living close to data centers.
Questioned about the timing of the newest gift cards, Johnson said after the meeting he’s not trying to soften opposition to data centers. In fact, he said most people he talks to “don’t care” about data centers.
While the financial assistance to residents has totaled almost $15 million over the past six years, the mayor emphasized $6 million alone is attributable to revenue from data centers.
The 2024 payment came from better-than-expected general fund revenues bolstered by new data center construction permit fees.
“We got a history. This is not a Johnny come lately,” Johnson said. “We said two years ago it was because of data centers. We made that statement. It’s not new. But back then, probably everyone in the village goes, ‘What’s a data center?’”
“No one cared back then,” he added. “It’s not like we’re late to the party. We actually led the party.”