On September 1, 2026, West Virginia State Treasurer Larry Pack released a tax analysis of two of the state’s most prominent data center projects: the Penzance Management project in Berkeley County, with an estimated investment of $10 billion, and the Google project in Putnam County, with an estimated investment of $7 billion.
The numbers in Pack’s report are significant. Under the HB 2014 distribution formula, the two projects combined would generate more than $100 million in annual tax income. Berkeley County schools would receive $28.3 million per year. Putnam County schools would receive $17.4 million. The county commissions in Berkeley and Putnam would receive $10.5 million and $8.3 million respectively. Every other county in the state would share roughly $5.6 million, about $100,000 each.
Pack framed it as a transparency exercise. “There’s a lot of confusion about these data center projects,” he said. “That’s why we worked to clarify their impact, so the public understands what it means for their community.”
That framing is accurate. But this is also a political document. The reason it is a political document is buried in what Pack chose not to say.
What HB 2014 Actually Did
Morrisey signed HB 2014 on April 30, 2025, at a ceremony in Point Pleasant near the future site of the Fidelis Monarch AI Data Center Campus. He called it “the single biggest economic development bill in the state in a very long time” and said it would make West Virginia “the most attractive state in the country for data centers.” The final House vote was 82 to 16. The Senate passed it 32 to 1.
The law did three significant things. It wiped away local zoning jurisdiction over high-impact data center buildouts, meaning counties and municipalities lost the ability to regulate where and how these facilities are built. It established a certified microgrid program allowing data centers to produce their own power, bypassing the Public Service Commission. And it created a special property tax valuation and a new distribution formula for high-impact data centers, redirecting the regular levy increment away from standard allocations toward a state-managed formula.
Pack’s own report concedes that local governments still benefit substantially under the HB 2014 formula. Berkeley County local governments, including schools, retain more than 62% of the incremental property tax gains from the Penzance project. Putnam County local governments retain nearly 63% of the gains from the Google project. These are real dollars. Pack is not arguing communities are being robbed.
What Pack is arguing is more subtle and, politically, more powerful.
Under the old system, communities had two tools: zoning authority to decide whether and where a data center could be built, and standard property tax allocation that flowed directly to schools and county commissions through the normal levy structure. HB 2014 took away the first tool entirely. Communities can no longer say no. They cannot impose conditions. They cannot shape how a billion-dollar industrial facility develops in their backyard. That decision now belongs to the state.
“Transparency, local input, and putting dollars back into communities. Regardless of what you think of data centers, those most impacted need to be at the forefront of these decisions.” -- State Treasurer Larry Pack
That sentence is a direct critique of a law that made exactly the opposite choice. Pack didn’t mention Morrisey’s name. He did not have to.
The argument Pack is making is this: you are going to have billions of dollars worth of industrial facilities placed in your communities whether you like it or not. The least that can be done is to ensure you understand exactly what you are getting financially, so you can advocate for how those dollars are spent. Transparency as compensation for lost control. It sounds reasonable. It is also a devastating frame for any 2028 campaign argument against the man who advocated for the bill.
The Putnam County Detail
The Google project is in Putnam County. Under the HB 2014 formula, Putnam County schools stand to receive $17.4 million annually and the Putnam County Commission would receive $8.3 million. Those are significant numbers for any West Virginia county.
But Putnam County voters also know that under HB 2014, their county commission has no say in whether or how that facility gets built. Pack’s report quantified exactly what they are getting. The question of what they gave up, against their will, is implicit in every page of it.
The Political Map
Here is what makes this report genuinely interesting beyond the tax policy.
Larry Pack won election as Treasurer in 2024, running unopposed. Before that, he had resigned from the House of Delegates in 2022 to become a senior advisor to then-governor Jim Justice. Justice appointed him acting Secretary of Revenue in December 2023. When Riley Moore needed to resign early as Treasurer to be sworn in as Congressman in January 2025, Justice administered Pack’s early oath of office to avoid a gap in the position. Pack is a Justice man by history, by appointment, and by political instinct.
He has said that he will not challenge Morrisey in 2028 if Justice decides to run.
That statement is doing a lot of work. Pack is not saying he will not run for governor. He is saying his decision depends on Justice’s. In the language of West Virginia Republican politics, that is the position of a man who believes Justice will run and is holding his place in line accordingly.
Today’s report landed just hours before the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Business Summit opens at the Greenbrier, where Senator Justice is scheduled to make a Senate presentation on September 3 in a place that includes Governor Morrisey, Treasurer Pack, Secretary of State Kris Warner, and essentially a large chunk of the West Virginia political and business establishment. The WASP has previously reported on chatter in Republican circles that Justice may use that appearance to signal or announce a gubernatorial run.
Pack releasing a report that frames HB 2014 as a local control problem hours before Justice makes his appearance at the Business Summit is either a remarkable coincidence or a coordinated opening. The Justice political operation has always been good at sequencing. Pack spent years inside it.
The Blind Spot
There is one political angle this report opens up that nobody appears to be discussing yet.
If Pack is genuinely holding the race open for Justice, his decision to release this report now reflects one of two realities. Either Justice has given Pack some private signal that he is running, and Pack is already positioning himself as a validator of the argument Justice will make against Morrisey’s record. Or Justice has not given Pack any signal, and Pack is moving on his own timeline, building his own case for 2028 while nominally waiting for a phone call from Senator Justice.
The second scenario is the more interesting one. Pack is 67 years old. His Treasurer’s term ends in 2028. If Justice announces at the Greenbrier this week, Pack steps aside gracefully and maintains his relationship with the Justice network. If Justice does not announce, or announces he is not running, Pack is already on record as the man who raised the alarm about West Virginia communities losing their voice in one of the biggest economic development decisions in state history. It is a 2028 primary argument that writes itself, and it does not require Justice’s permission to make.
Pack’s report is a document designed to be used. The question is whether Pack already knows how it will be used, or whether he is hedging against an outcome Justice has not yet shared with him.
The Chamber summit opens soon. Justice speaks Thursday.
Watch carefully.
A Note on the Numbers
Pack’s report was prepared by Mark Muchow, West Virginia Treasury Strategic Analyst and former Deputy Revenue Secretary. Muchow is one of the most credible fiscal analysts in the state. His name on the report is a signal that these numbers are serious, sourced, and defensible. If Morrisey’s team pushes back, they are pushing back against Muchow’s math, which is a difficult fight to win in public. Pack knows that. 🐝
The WV WASP is a West Virginia political news, humor, and commentary outlet. wvwasp.com | @wvwasp on X.