It appears that the rumored Irwin County datacenter tax pre-payment proposal is vaporware, speculation, hearsay.
The response from the Irwin County Clerk on July 21 was:
“I have received your request. At this time, there are no documents responsive to your request.”
That was in response to my open records request of July 19, 2026: Continue reading
Update 2026-07-23: Madison County BOCC passed the datacenter moratorium 4:0.
Update 2026-07-18: fixed name of county in title.
On July 22, 2026, a datacenter moratorium comes up for second reading at the Madison County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners, when they can also vote to pass it.
They already read it once on July 8, after working on it for some time before that.
The agenda and board packet for their Regular Meeting, July 8, 2026, contains a public notice, a recently-passed state datacenter law with highlights on parts applicable to local ordinances, a Business Impact Estimate for the proposed ordinance, a redline version of the ordinance showing changes since its previous draft, and the nine-page datacenter moratorium ordinance itself.
Every county should be as diligent and transparent, no matter in which state.
The east border of Madison County is the Withlacoochee River downstream from Georgia and upstream from the Suwannee River, with first-magnitue Madison Blue Spring in between. Madison County, like all counties in the Suwannee River Basin, is on top of the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink for every purpose.
The ordinance does not explicitly name any of the rivers or springs or the aquifer, but it does include these sections, which are relevant. Continue reading
Asked directly about WFNF, what’s happening with the $125 million and have you cancelled the consultant contracts, SJRWMD had no response.
Remember that whenever somebody tries to tell you WFNF is cancelled. It’s just laying low.
That’s Water First North Florida, the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin to seep down from wetlands into the Floridan Aquifer and come back up in springs, rivers, and drinking water wells, at the June 9, 2026, meeting in Palatka of the Governing Board of the St. Johns River Water Management District.
What they did do, after their Hydrologic Conditions Report showed how dire the drought is, they approved an increase in the amount of groundwater GRU can withdraw for Gainesville.
And they praised GRU’s wastewater reclamation, i.e., Sweetwater, as a model. They didn’t say, but that’s one of the precedents cited in https://waterfirstnorthfl.com: “Similar projects like the Sweetwater Wetlands Project in Alachua County and the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project in Clay County have successfully improved water quality, restored wetland habitats, and provided community benefits – proving this approach works for North Florida.”
Nevermind that, as Suwannee County BOCC pointed out, “You assert that this method has been “proven” at the Sweetwater Wetlands Project and Black Creek Water Resource Development. That is simply not true as both of those projects use wetlands to cleanse run off — not chemically “treated” water. To be blunt, those projects are not receiving sewer water like you are planning to use for the Water First North Florida Project. Even if they were similar projects, the difference in scale compared to Water First North Florida negates any reasonable comparison.”
For more about WFNF, see:
Here’s another question. Continue reading
The Local Industrial Development Authority took two Irwin County Commission meetings to approve.
The ordinance says the Authority is limited to the unincorporated parts of Irwin County and that it is to have nine Directors.
For the June 3 meeting where they finally approved that ordinance, we got nothing but a Public Notice: no agenda, no board packet.
But in response to an open records request, we got an extensive board packet for the June 1, 2026, meeting. It also includes a household trash burn ordinance, a solar ordinance, an ordinance limiting appraisals for low-income properties, an employee performance evaluation form, and a job posting for a County Administrator. That last item is not on the agenda, but it is in the packet.
These items are on the WWALS website. Images of each page are below, except I have omitted the 22 blank pages. Continue reading
Update 2026-06-18: Drought dire; GRU water withdrawal increase approved; no response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09.
You can speak about WFNF, taxes, etc. at the SJRWMD Governing Board Meeting,
10 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Board Room, SJRWMD District Headquarters, 4049 Reid Street, Palatka, FL 32177
Don’t be late: 5. Public Comment is very early on the agenda.
So far, the Suwannee River Water Management Districdt (SRWMD) has no comment on the alleged cancellation of WFNF. We’ve heard nothing at all from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), which has dedicated $125 million to WFNF. Maybe you’d like to ask them what they are doing with WFNF.
How much of SJRWMD’s own tax revenue comes from property tax, and how much of that will be affected if the voters in November approve the Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemption?
Public Comment is right after this item:
- Consideration: Approve Consumptive Use Permit 11339-8, known as Murphree WTP – GRU. This application is a renewal of an existing public supply permit with an increase in the Upper Floridan aquifer groundwater allocation from 30.0 million gallons per day (mgd) to 34.592 mgd, through the year 2056.
That’s a 15% increase from 2056 for Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU). From the same Upper Floridan Aquifer everybody drinks from in the Suwannee Basin. With direct effects on the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Associated Priority Springs minimum flows and levels, as spelled out later in the board packet.
There is no mention of PFAS forever chemicals or pharmaceuticals being removed from the “reclaimed” wastewater that ends up in the aquifer. One of the reclaimed wastewater routes goes through Sweetwater Wetlands Park, which WFNF claims as a precedent.
Maybe you’d like to talk about that.
On packet page 9: Continue reading
A Florida bill could force Florida county parks and boat ramps to be pay for use, and could eliminate 4-H, agricultural extension services, libraries, and even county veteran services.
If passed, HJR 203 would eliminate all property taxes on homestead property except school taxes.
It failed in the Florida Senate, but it will be heard again in a July 2026, legislative special session.
If it passes the legislature, the people will get to vote on this constitutional amendment on the November ballot.
Gilchrist County held a workshop about this on April 20, 2026. Other counties would do well to do the same.
The origin of the word republic is the latin phrase Res publica, which means public thing. It is often translated as commonwealth. I understand people don’t like paying taxes, especially property taxes. But something is needed to fund public services. Florida already does not have income tax.
That leaves a gas tax, increasing millage on everybody else, or, as slide 28 suggests, “100% Fee based parks.” Which wouldn’t help libraries or 4-H.
I don’t know about you, but I prefer people, especially young people, being able to go to the library or to the river without paying, such as to Hart Springs, Otter Springs, or the FL 47 Ramp, aka Santa Fe River Gilchrist County Park Ramp. Otherwise, they will find other, perhaps more troublesome, ways to spend their time.
Oh, and your taxes would still be paying to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin; see:
Update 2026-04-22: Tabled: Sheriff’s lease for an ICE detention center –Bradford County Commission 2026-04-16.
Late yesterday, Bradford County updated the agenda for this evening to add a lease agreement for the Douglas Building and a list of “Mandatory Operational Requirements and Compliance Standards”.
That hardly leaves time for anyone to review properly before this evening.
And there is no mention of either of the other two offers for use of the site discussed last time.
Bradford County should choose one of its other options for the site. And the county should do nothing with the site until FDEP returns results of its contamination examination.
The meeting is 6:30 PM, Thursday, April 16, 2026, at the Bradford County Courthouse, 945 North Temple Avenue, Starke, Florida 32091.
This item is still one of the “Reports” in the agenda, not marked ACTION. But the Commissioners could choose to vote on it anyway.
There is no comment by the county attorney in the agenda packet.
There’s also nothing on the agenda about any results of the FDEP contamination study they approved last time, March 7, 2026. That would have to take much longer than nine days, anyway.
As we pointed out last time, Starke has already had sewage spills, and increasing its population by 50% (3,000 inmates on top of 6,000 Starke residents) would risk more spills, on a site that sits between two creeks that go through Lakes Rowell and Sampson into the Sampson River to the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers.
There is some verbiage about that in the lease, and in the “Mandatory Operational Requirements and Compliance Standards: Douglas Building Facility Transition”: Continue reading
Update 2026-04-16: Lease and operating requirements added to Sheriff’s ICE detention agenda item @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16.
Despite two other options for use of the Douglas Building being discussed last time, only the ICE detention center is on the agenda for the Bradford County Commission tomorrow, 6:30 PM, Thursday, April 16, 2026. That’s at the Bradford County Courthouse, 945 North Temple Avenue, Starke, Florida 32091.
The board packet does not include the text of the proposed lease, nor any comment on it by the county attorney.
There’s also nothing on the agenda about any results of the FDEP contamination study they approved last time, March 7, 2026. That would have to take much longer than nine days, anyway.
According to Sheriff Gordon Smith‘s agenda item detail, such a detention center “would be capable of housing up to 3,000 detainees.” Remember the population of Starke is about 6,000. So that’s a 50% increase, plus ICE and other personnel.
As we pointed out last time, Starke has already had sewage spills, and increasing its population like that would risk more spills, on a site that sits between two creeks that go through Lakes Rowell and Sampson into the Sampson River to the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers.
Bradford County should choose one of its other options for the site.
And the county should do nothing with the site until FDEP returns results of its contamination examination. Continue reading
If datacenters are so great, why can’t they pay their own way?
You’d think their billionaire backers could afford it.
For more about datacenters, including a petition, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters
![[Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-03-24--datacenters/fbmany.jpg)
Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026
Drew Kann and Kristi E. Swartz,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
April 3, 2026,
Georgia lawmakers leave data center tax breaks intact, punt on energy costs
Consumer advocates call inaction ‘disgraceful,’ while Georgia Power and data center groups tout benefits they say the industry will bring Georgians.
When the General Assembly convened in January to begin its legislative session, few issues seemed to get more attention from lawmakers than data centers.
A flurry of data center bills emerged in the session’s early days, from moratoriums on new developments to measures aimed at the facilities’ energy infrastructure costs and rolling back the lucrative tax breaks the state offers to lure them to the Peach State.
But as the legislature adjourned in the wee hours of Friday morning, the robust debate that began beneath the Gold Dome earlier this year ended in relative silence, at least as far as data centers are concerned.
In the end, none of the legislation consumer advocates said was needed to protect Georgians from the onslaught of data centers successfully cleared both chambers.
Continue reading
Update 2026-04-15: ICE detention center back with no alternatives @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16.
The Bradford County Commission has two related items on its agenda for tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM, Tuesday, April 7, 2026.
In 5. Approval of the Consent Agenda:
- Site Access Agreement with Florida Department of Environmental Protection for monitoring of the “Douglas Building” Property — 14281 US Hwy 301 South, Starke, Florida.
Farther down the agenda:
- Discussion of “Douglas” Building Property Options
- Potential Lease with Bradford County Sheriff’s Office for the purpose of installation of a temporary ICE detainment facility.
- Other Lease or Marketing Options
We’ve sent them a letter suggesting they do nothing about leasing the site until the FDEP investigations have reported back. Continue reading
![[Datacenter deal proposal in Ocilla Star 2026-07-01, no documents responsive, Irwin County Clerk 2026-07-21]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-07-01--ocilla-star-datacenter/fbmany.jpg)
![[Datacenter Moratorium Proposed, Hamilton County BOCC, First Reading 2026-07-08, Second Reading & Vote 2026-07-22]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-07-08--madco-datacenter-moratorium/fbmany.jpg)
![[Drought dire, yet approved GRU water withdrawal increase, No response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-09--sjrwmd-board-pictures/many.jpg)
![[Local Industrial Development Authority @ Irwin Co. BOCC 2026-06-01, 2026-06-03, Burn Ordinance, Solar Ordinance, County Administrator job posting]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-01--irwin-county-bocc-packet/igmany.jpg)
![[Speak about WFNF, Taxes, etc., at SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09, Or GRU 15% increase groundwater withdrawal affecting Suwannee Basin]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-09--sjrwmd-board/fbmany.jpg)
![[Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemption: for-pay parks and boat ramps? @ Gilchrist County Workshop, Monday, April 20, 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-20--gilchrist-county-tax-workshop/fbmany.jpg)
![[Lease and operating requirements added about Sheriff's ICE detention to agenda packet @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-16--bradford-ice-lease/fbmany.jpg)
![[Site contamination investigation before discussion of lease as ICE detention facility, WWALS to Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-06]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-06--bradford-county-ice-detention/many.jpg)