PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — Calvert County’s Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) nixed a request to the state to grant the BOCC authority to “enter into an agreement for payment in lieu of taxes for data centers located within Calvert County.”
Each year, the Board of County Commissioners works with agencies throughout the county and independent organizations to create a booklet of legislative requests for the local delegate to take to Annapolis for the next legislative session. Maryland’s legislative session will begin on Jan. 14, 2026, and will run for 90 days. The state conducts all legislative activity during this time.
This year’s request included developing a pilot program to give the BOCC the authority to enter into alternate agreements with companies looking to build and invest in a data center in Calvert County. Those agreements could include payment in lieu of taxes to incentivize development and, in theory, create a consistent stream of income year over year for the county.
The state of Maryland has created incentive packages to entice data centers to locate within the state, including waiver of state sales and use tax. The state has also given local jurisdictions the power to reduce or waive certain personal property taxes that would make this type of request possible.
BOCC President Earl “Buddy” Hance suggested removing the request because the county was not at a stage in the process of acquiring a data center where the request was necessary.
“It was intended to be an economic development tool. But honestly, with the construction timeline, even if there was a data center approved today, it still wouldn’t be necessary that it go forward,” County Attorney John Norris said. “And you have the tax credit authority that doesn’t provide you the same protection from wealth formula calculations.”
Norris acknowledged the BOCC’s request to pull the item from the legislative booklet.
The data center discussion has been a point of contention for many Calvert County residents. The BOCC’s interest in data centers is because it would create a sizable and consistent tax revenue — the Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center, owned by the Baltimore-based energy company Constellation. The company claims to pay $22.8 million annually in property taxes. But residents have expressed concern about the financial and environmental impacts of a data center in Calvert.
“All of us on the PJM grid from Ohio to New York to North Carolina will be impacted by whatever gets put on the grid, wherever it goes. It affects our electricity rates. Whether that’s a data center that goes in Northern Virginia, SMECO (Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative) customers will see an impact for what they pay for electricity.”
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Absolutely no way they should be building a data center in calvert. When you look at the impact they are having on every community near a data center, kitty shouldn’t even be up for discussion. The noise and light pollution are unbearable and decimate property values. When they kick in emergency generators, the smell of diesel permeates the air for miles. Electric costs for residents skyrocket. Let them build data centers in the middle of nowhere…. not in residential areas.