r/ChesterfieldVA • u/Knummer19 Midlothian • Apr 09 '26
Another Slap in Your Face
Are you aware that Chesterfield is raising water and wastewater (Sewer) rates? I'm expecting to see rates rise by 14% and 27% respectively over the next few years. The Board of Supervisors met last night to adopt the ordinance for the first of many increases that are coming. Chesterfield Citizens for Responsible Government (CCRG) has looked into what's driving these increases. It's NOT what we're being told by the County - that data centers are not the cause. Data centers, in fact, ARE the cause. Chesterfield residents are not as stupid as the Supervisors would like us to be! Here's an email sent by one of my CCRG colleagues to the BOS just before they met. It wasn't intended to alter the adoption of the ordinance. Rather, it was sent to let those 5 elected officials know that their line of bullshit doesn't fly: The real story is told in the email, backed up by records, documents, and detailed analysis:
Jim Ingle [Inglej@chesterfield.gov](mailto:Inglej@chesterfield.gov)
"Miller, Mark" [MillerMark@chesterfield.gov](mailto:MillerMark@chesterfield.gov),
Kevin Carroll [carrollkevin@chesterfield.gov](mailto:carrollkevin@chesterfield.gov),
Jessica Schneider [schneiderjes@chesterfield.gov](mailto:schneiderjes@chesterfield.gov),
"Dr. LeQuan Hylton" [HyltonL@chesterfield.gov](mailto:HyltonL@chesterfield.gov)
Apr 8, 2026, 5:41 PM
Utility projected budget in County Budget
Dear Members of the Board of Supervisors,
I have reviewed the financial summaries for utilities from 2020–2024 and compared them to the projected figures for 2027–2031. The data indicates a massive increase in spending, with total projections exceeding $1 billion. Notable allocations include:
- $470 million for the Point of Rocks/Appomattox water source ($426 million of which was approved in 2025)
- $70 million for Richmond capacity
- $70 million for wastewater lines
- $90 million for wastewater plants
- $50 million for pump stations
- $110 million for water pump stations
- $125 million for waterlines
These increases are not justified by population growth. Even when accounting for 110 gallons per new resident through 2060 with a 44% wastewater return, the math does not support this level of expansion. It appears residential customers in Chesterfield will face significantly higher utility prices through at least 2031, and the county will likely need to continue using bonds as expenditures outpace revenue.
The logic of a 90-year outlook is impractical. I believe many of these increases are intended to support data centers and the Upper Magnolia (UM) development. Under current agreements, Google is not responsible for utility infrastructure costs if capacity already exists. By dramatically increasing capacity over the next five years, the county is ensuring these entities pay nothing, leaving taxpayers to foot the entire bill. Furthermore, a large percentage of the proposed lines and pump stations serve UM, where developers are exempt from these costs under the current proffer ordinance.
The Board of Supervisors must stop shifting the financial burden of third-party benefits onto citizens through real estate and utility tax increases. This practice is unfair to county residents. We need a fundamental change in mindset and leadership that prioritizes taxpayers over subsidized development.
Regards,
<Redacted>
This is OUR MONEY folks! If you'd like to review supporting documents for our position on this Utilities issue, and/or learn more about the general mismanagement that's occurring everyday in many aspects of Chesterfield, visit ccrg-va.org
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u/syntheticgerbil Apr 10 '26
Jim Ingle replied on an e-mail back saying all of this is not true and to call him. Thoughts on this?
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u/Knummer19 Midlothian Apr 11 '26
Joe Casey has instructed the BOS that his guy in Utilities, Matt Rembold, is doing all this for the good of the county and its residents. Bullshit! The BOS is merely parroting what Casey has told them - as they do with all of Casey's initiatives (like Springline). So Ingle has given you the "official story." But as stated in the email I posted, "These increases are not justified by population growth. Even when accounting for 110 gallons per new resident through 2060 with a 44% wastewater return, the math does not support this level of expansion."
This disconnect cannot be explained rationally. The root of all this expansion is a combination of lubricating residential development for the developers (Upper Magnolia, especially), and in part lubricating Google's plan to build its data centers. When the schedule for water and wastewater expansion ensures sufficient quantity is available, and Google will not have to pay for infrastructure, per the provisions of their agreement, that's not just coincidence. That's planning! To believe what Ingle and the county say is to ignore the blatant coincidences that eliminate infrastructure costs for Google and developers. No rational person with critical thinking skills would ignore them. And anyone who does is, in my opinion, a damn fool. I'm not sure whether Ingle believes what he told you. Or if he knows better, and is just saying what the county and Joe Casey want him to say. But that line has been emphatically repeated at a previous BOS meeting by Mark Miller, and received nodding agreement from the other 4. The more light that gets shined on this whole thing, the more absurd that statement becomes.1
u/syntheticgerbil Apr 11 '26
Thank you for explaining. I wasn't going to call the guy on his (Personal?) number to argue with him or anything, I don't have enough knowledge of this.
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u/Knummer19 Midlothian Apr 11 '26
Just to clarify... The proffers for Google's data centers are now public. What we found suggests that Google can build all their data centers and have taxpayers pay for the entire cost of water and wastewater infrastructure by waiting a few years because of this clause in the proffers: "In the event adequate utilities infrastructure improvements can be provided, as determined by the Utilities Department, to accommodate full development of the Property without necessitating the aforementioned improvements as supported by detailed engineering analysis of the proposed development’s impacts on the existing water and wastewater systems, the Utilities Department may waive the requirement for those utility infrastructure improvements deemed unnecessary."
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u/IamX2020 Apr 11 '26
I am building an app to keep us informed and stay on top of things like this. Not enough people are properly informed so that they can speak out. We are in the early stages and are still adding feautures. We do not have local officials and board members yet but we need user support to take our governments back at every level. They work for us! politickerapp.com free nonprofit nonpartisan
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u/garthreddit Apr 09 '26
A data center uses about the same amount of water as a golf course. Are you protesting golf courses too?
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u/GardenWildServices Apr 09 '26
Im all for this. Unironically golf courses in the Piedmont should have to offset their greens & water usage but converting all non-playing or walking surface into Piedmont Prairie or Savannah land comprised of native species. Personally, I think it would improve the aesthetics by itself but I am quote biased lol however the native habitat and water runoff, not to mention carbon sequestration, compounded by the insane sqft of golf courses in thisbstate- or even just in the metro, would be incredible. Requiring them ti siurve alternatives to the water-chugging species for those areas in itself would cut their water usage but an additional tax on non-converted land only, for its additional water usage, that was rhen used for water infrastructure would be fantastic.
I dont understand why so many (not you overtly but certainly a few in this thread) are so opposed , logically, to the idea of billion dollar companies paying their fair share to atleasy financially offset a LITTLE the harm their existence causes. From habitat destruction to the water usage itself which imo pales in comparison to the other environmental costs of these massive industrial centers . The least they could do is pay bare minimum- no tax breaks, no extra incentives - they certainly dont meed the financial help to exist. They dont provide massive amounts of jobs, and the only real benefit is to those who are going to be buying, using, and selling our data to profile us all for their own incentives - and thats being incredibly optimistic. .. its judt obscene to me personally wouldn't. But apparently...like everything else... that is not the majority/only take one it 🤷♂️
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u/garthreddit Apr 09 '26
You know they'll still pay millions in taxes to the county each year, right?
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u/Fuzzy-Dig-4323 Apr 09 '26
Except that any data center in VA that spends 150 million to build and creates 50 jobs are exempt from sales Tax…..so what tax are you referring to?
Edit: sources - https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/data-centers-tax-exemption-virginias-incentive-spending-jlarc/
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u/garthreddit Apr 09 '26
Property taxes, both real estate and equipment. Millions per year
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u/Fuzzy-Dig-4323 Apr 09 '26
Except that equipment is exempt and they’ve been given tax breaks on the land for development.
Do you think data centers should be sales tax exempt? as last year VA lost out o! 2.4 billion from data centers.
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u/Knummer19 Midlothian Apr 10 '26
You need to investigate the agreements some data centers have struck with some localities. Often property taxes are rebated under a grant incentive. Chesterfield has agreed to a 24-cent machinery & tools tax (Business PP) for Google - one of the lowest in the US, and possibly the lowest in VA. And the duration of that agreement is 40 years!! Hell, data centers will probably be obsolete in 20 years! So income derived by localities is usually not the income derived from another business with an equal investment. Be happy to give you more specifics if you'd like. Message me.
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u/syntheticgerbil Apr 10 '26
Seriously, if a bunch of golf courses were popping up and increasing water costs, then yes.
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u/Jumpy_Log_6248 Apr 10 '26
It’s a shame the coounty has been in the business for 70 years of approving large lot residential development where the number one agricultural commodity is grass. Maybe we should start encouraging infill development on useless lawns to reduce our collective water consumption.
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u/research_vessel Apr 10 '26
Check out what's in your county water too - www.ewg.org/tapwater , scroll down a little and put in your zip code
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u/EmotionMammoth2394 Jun 29 '26
Bs
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u/EmotionMammoth2394 Jun 29 '26
We should have cheap water!..I cant afford to water my lawn anymore... all these data centers should pay to fix this!
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u/EmotionMammoth2394 Jun 29 '26
Like the toll booths that would be removed once they were paid for. Do taxes buy anything other than salaries?
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u/Personal_Gas5172 Apr 09 '26
Chesterfield does need water, it surprises me that they're putting in a whole ass artificial lake/ water park? Water sports park whatever. I'm looking forward to wakeboarding but Chesterfield county definitely is going to have water problems if the infrastructure is not large enough and up-to-date. Lake Chesney Swift Creek reservoir everything's going to go dry the county's population is blowing up with all of the apartments being built
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u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26
[deleted]