Senate committees talk Iron Mountain Data Center, tax incentives

Credit: Senate Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee

Two committees chaired by Pennsylvania Sens. John Yudichak (I-14) and Scott Hutchinson (R-21) toured the Iron Mountain Data Center on Thursday before discussing sales and use tax exemptions approved in the 2021-2022 budget.

Members of the Senate Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee, chaired by Yudichak, and the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Hutchinson, toured the underground Boyers facility that occupies 200 acres of a 1,500 acre mining complex. The facility operated and supports data management and document storage, employing 275 people.

Iron Mountain has invested over $100 million in capital over the past seven years, the legislators said.

Rick Crutchley, vice president of Iron Mountain North America Data Centers, said recently passed legislation makes Pennsylvania competitive when it comes to attracting new tech companies.

“The growth rate of data and the digital economy is setting new records every year. With the passage of the sales and use tax exemption for data center equipment, Pennsylvania is able to compete with other states to attract technology and data center investments like the infrastructure our legislators saw at Iron Mountain today,” Crutchley said. “Across our Boyers employee base, we have been fortunate to add almost 200 employees to our team over the past 24 months and expect to add more than 200 additional employees in the upcoming year, in addition to hiring local construction teams to assist with our impending $10 million data center outfits and expansion.”

Data Centers, such as Iron Mountain, are expected to benefit from the sales and use tax exclusion that was implemented within the budget, as part of the 2021-2022 Tax Code (House Bill 952).

Yudichak hosted statewide hearings earlier this year to highlight the need for tax and economic incentives to build out the state’s technology infrastructure and create jobs. Sales and use tax exemptions for computer data center development was a key part of that build out, committees heard, because the state was not successfully competing with 29 other states for data centers and the technology jobs they created.

“Neighboring states, such as Virginia, have created tens of thousands of jobs and leveraged billions in private investment, as a result of data centers,” Yudichak said. “We have been lagging in recruiting technology corporations to Pennsylvania — it is critical that they have confidence in our technology infrastructure.”