I’ve started paying close attention to the permission slips that my daughter brings home from school these days.
Obviously, I’m OK with her visiting Maple Tree Farm for a field trip — it sounds like a seasonally-appropriate educational opportunity. Nor am I stressing the various handheld lunch options: a sun butter and jelly sandwich, ham and cheese sandwich or turkey and cheese sandwich.
No, it’s the box found lower down on the form that breaks my heart: “__ I have included a donation to help cover the cost of other children who are unable to pay.”
It’s $9. Obviously, I check this box, because, to me, $9 is a frozen pumpkin spice dirty chai at Hyperion (also seasonally appropriate).
To be clear, I’m not seeking credit or praise for doing the absolute bare minimum. But consider this: the option only exists because, for so many families served by the city’s school system, it’s necessary.
And yet, it doesn’t have to be.
In February, city council approved the Technology Overlay District (TOD), a zoning area that permits data center development by right. There were votes, public hearings, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth. (I’m not saying that my jaw was entirely unclenched, either.)
While we are still years out from full build-out of the eight to 10 data centers in the TOD, the projected tax revenue to be generated is significant: as much as $60 million annually by some calculations. For context, the city’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget came in at just under $128 million.
Candidates for city council and current officials alike have devoted thought to what to do with this money, and they’ve come up with some interesting, innovative ideas.
At a Free Press forum in September, Ward 2 city council candidate Joy Crump argued for putting proceeds toward environmental protections; her opponent, Anne Little, similarly proposed purchasing the Hylton Tract — where a data center was previously planned — and preserving it as green space. One rather obvious measure calls for allowing the revenue to defray rising property taxes.
But what if we were to use these funds — or more accurately, a portion of them — to help those families who can’t afford a $9 field trip?
According to the Rappahannock United Way (R.I.P.), in 2023 there were approximately 11,443 total households in Fredericksburg. Of these, about 13% were below the federal poverty line, and another 31% were what’s referred to as “ALICE,” which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.
In other words, the latter group consists of families who are working — grinding — but still can’t make ends meet.
Time for some math. Adding those two groups, you come out to about 5,000 struggling households in the city. What if we were to give each $500/month: 5000 x 500 x 12 = $30,000,000.
Theoretically, for half of the money Fredericksburg stands to generate from data centers, we could materially improve quality of life for our neighbors. This concept is referred to as Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI), and it’s been implemented in more than 30 cities across the United States, including Alexandria and Richmond in the Commonwealth.
Easier said than done. As a small city, Fredericksburg is hardly set up to administer social programs on a large scale. Additionally, one official with whom I spoke also mentioned the potential for “perverse incentives,” namely, people seeking residence in the city solely to take advantage of a generous GBI program.
So, let’s slow down. The numbers I puzzled out above are pie-in-the-sky, speculative, whimsical figures. The city would need to start with a GBI pilot program, a much smaller number of households (between 200 and 300 is common), from the targeted demographic.
Those households would receive payments for a year or more, during which time the city would track expenditures. Any subsequent expansion of the program would be informed by robust data, not vibes. City officials could also go to school on what has worked elsewhere and — just as importantly — what hasn’t.
According to data from the Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard, a Stanford University-housed project that tracks programs launched across the country, 32% of all tracked spending went toward food and groceries. An additional 9% went toward housing and/or rent.
While we can’t say with any certainty that Fredericksburg’s data would mirror those percentages, they do provide an indication.
“That’s a very countercultural idea, but there’s actually a lot of precedent for how that makes a difference,” said Meghann Cotter, executive director for Micah Ecumenical Ministries, a faith-based organization that provides services to the Fredericksburg region’s unhoused population.
Perhaps the most relevant precedent for GBI locally, added Cotter, is Social Security.
“For most, $967 a month seems like such a little amount of money, but I cannot tell you how many times people get Social Security, and they’re no longer homeless,” she said. “If there were a targeted basic income, I think most people would be able to change their circumstances in some way, shape or form.”
If we’re going to embrace data centers, with all the strings (or should we say, wires) attached, the least we can do is to help the least among us.
Think about it: what if every family in the city had money to afford groceries and rent and to properly maintain the vehicle that gets them to and from work every day?
Or, you know, maybe to pay for their kid’s field trip to Maple Tree Farm to learn about apple cider and stuff.
