Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts is driving a push to ensure that hyperscale data centers in the county are appraised at their correct assessed value, an effort the Atlanta Tribune reported on June 3, 2026, that could produce approximately $85 million in new annual revenue for Fulton County schools, municipalities, and county government.
The effort centers on the gap between how data centers have historically been assessed and their actual market value as hyperscale infrastructure. Data center buildings house hundreds of millions of dollars in specialized equipment and infrastructure, but property tax assessments that rely on standard commercial real estate metrics have in some cases dramatically undervalued these assets. Chairman Pitts has engaged the county tax assessor's office to apply market-based valuations to hyperscale facilities, a change that would bring Fulton County assessments in line with the economic reality of the assets on its land.
Fulton County is already one of the largest data center markets in the greater Atlanta metro area. Microsoft's Project Steamboat, a $1.8 billion three-building campus led by developer EdgeConneX in Union City, received $75 million in property tax abatement from the Development Authority of Fulton County but is projected to generate more than $200 million in tax revenue over the first 10 years, even net of the abatement. T5 Data Centers is developing a 200 MW campus on a 91-acre site in South Fulton County, with phase 1 delivery targeted for 2027.
The county's push for accurate valuations reflects a national conversation about whether municipalities that host large-scale data center development are capturing their fair share of the economic value created. Atlanta ranked second among all U.S. markets in total commissioned data center capacity in 2026 according to Cushman & Wakefield, and the tax revenue question has become increasingly central to how local governments negotiate with hyperscale developers seeking incentive packages.
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