Press Release: Ferguson Voters, Not City Hall Insiders, Should Decide Any Data Center Tax Deal

Today, Vernon Norman, the Republican nominee for State Senate District 14, called  on the Ferguson City Council to reject tonight’s revived tax-abatement package for a data-center project  at the former Emerson Electric campus. If elected, Norman said he will work with legislators already  drafting statewide guardrails, including a Senate companion to accountability legislation outlined by  Rep. Tricia Byrnes, and will introduce a new bill giving voters the final say before any large data facility  receives Chapter 100 bonds, property-tax abatements, or similar local incentives. 

The council is scheduled to vote Tuesday, September 22, on a plan first defeated 3–3 in May and  reintroduced this month by Councilman Nick Kasoff. Published reports describe incentives of up to $1.5  billion, industrial revenue bonds that could reach the tens of billions, and a campus plan that starts by  reusing existing buildings at roughly 18 megawatts with a future parcel identified at up to 300  megawatts. The developer is attorney Jim Onder, through Next Revolution Technologies LLC. 

“Ferguson residents packed City Hall twice to say no to a generational tax deal they did not write and  cannot unwind,” Norman said. “A $750,000-a-year check to a favorite nonprofit does not buy consent. If  this project is as good as its sponsors claim, put the package on the ballot and let the people decide.” 

Governor Mike Kehoe has said data-center investment can be generational, but only if it is right for the  community, and he has said he expects lawmakers to take up statewide guardrails in the coming session.  Norman said he will bring Ferguson’s experience to that debate. Not as a new argument against growth,  but as proof that communities need transparency and a real vote before they are locked into decades of  tax treatment. 

Norman said he will file two related Senate bills in 2027: 

A Senate companion to Byrnes’ accountability framework. Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, has  outlined House legislation requiring independent, developer-funded studies of public costs, water,  utilities, workforce, and conflicts of interest before incentive agreements are approved; public disclosure  of deals, ownership, and consultants; a ban on nondisclosure agreements that keep local officials from consulting outside experts; and enforceable commitments on water, infrastructure, and  ratepayer protection. Norman said he will sponsor the Senate companion so that work has a path in both  chambers, and so North County’s experience is in the record when the bills are written.

A new voter-approval bill he is calling the Show-Me Consent Act. Accountability tells a community  what a project costs. It does not give residents veto power. Norman’s bill would. Under the proposal, an  authorizing act for a qualifying large data facility, 50 megawatts or more of planned peak demand, would  not take effect until a majority of voters in the host city or county approved it. That includes rezoning,  annexation, Chapter 100 treatment, tax increment financing, or a development agreement that  authorizes the project. The ballot question would name the site, cap the megawatts, and state the tax  treatment and job pledge. A “no” vote would bar the same package for two years. 

“I support economic growth, private property rights, and innovation,” Norman said. “I also agree with  Sen. Josh Hawley that tax breaks for data-center billionaires are corporate welfare. Missouri can welcome  technology without handing a city a 15-year invoice its residents never saw. Show-Me Consent is the  simple rule: if the deal is good enough for city council, it is good enough for the ballot.” 

Missouri already saw Festus voters throw out council members who rushed a data-center deal.  Independence residents are fighting a recall over the same issue. Farmers in Montgomery County are in  court over process. Opponents of Ferguson’s May package, including the St. Louis County NAACP and  the Ferguson-Florissant School District, warned that the abatement structure could drain tens of millions  from local schools. Data centers concentrate electrical load and personal-property value while creating  few permanent on-site jobs compared with the employers Ferguson used to have. 

“My opponent has been silent while this deal came back to the council she lives under,” Norman said.  “North County does not need another closed-door incentive. It needs jobs that put people in buildings,  not servers that put ratepayers on the hook.” 

Norman invited residents to Tuesday’s meeting at Ferguson City Hall and said he will release draft bill  language and a one-page explainer this week for local officials statewide.