Nearly four out of five Ohio voters support a temporary halt to new data center construction, according to a Bowling Green State University poll released Thursday, Sept. 17.

The finding lands squarely on New Albany, where data centers generated $10 million in special assessment revenue.

The poll, conducted by BGSU's Democracy and Public Policy Research Network and research firm YouGov, surveyed 1,000 likely Ohio voters online from Sept. 1–10. It found 78% favor a temporary ban on new data centers until more information is gathered about their effects. Seventy-five percent said they oppose data center construction in their own community. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.96 percentage points.

The numbers track with national sentiment. A Gallup poll in May found more than 70% of Americans oppose data center construction in their area, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. Ohio ranks fourth nationally in operational data centers, according to a Pew Research Center analysis published in April.

New Albany has built its fiscal model around the facilities. Jennifer Chrysler, the city's community development director since 2005, told Bloomberg Tax in a report on data center tax incentives that the city's special assessment charges data centers at rates up to three times the price per square foot of regular office space. That revenue totaled $10 million and helped fund a police station expansion, a veterans' memorial and a natural space with walking trails and a playground, according to Bloomberg Tax.

Chrysler said in a News 5 Cleveland report on New Albany's data center growth that the city's deal framework requires companies to make minimum annual payments so that a data center campus with 200–250 employees has the same fiscal impact as an office complex with 2,000 workers. "We're not trying to say this is the formula that everybody should use … or that they should be built everywhere," she said.

Fourteen companies have built more than 68 data centers in the park since 2010, about 40 of which are operational, according to city spokesperson Josh Poland.

Statewide, the stakes are growing. Ohio expects to forgo $142 million in tax revenue from data centers in the next fiscal year, more than seven times the $20 million it gave up in fiscal year 2019, according to Bloomberg Tax. Voters in 18 Ohio municipalities and townships will decide data center ballot measures on Nov. 3, the Ohio Capital Journal reported Sept. 14. Nine of those communities have petitions mirroring a statewide effort to ban data centers that draw more than 25 megawatts of energy per month.

The group behind that statewide push, Conserve Ohio, missed a signature deadline in July and is targeting the 2027 ballot.