HISTORIC AGREEMENT IN RURAL COUNTY OF 1,700; HELIOS TO PROVIDE $2 MILLION FOR LOCAL HOUSING
On Monday morning Dickens County commissioners signed an agreement with Galaxy Digital (www.galaxy.com) that might just be the largest thing to hit the region since the railroad first brought homesteaders here.
The county has taken a major step in ushering in a new digital economy, bringing jobs, homes, tax revenue and other benefits yet unseen, according to local leaders.
Rural landscapes like northern Dickens County, Texas— where the identically named county seat counts a population just over 200 and the entire county numbers fewer than 2,000—have begun to attract enormous AI (artificial intelligence) data centers as
• Galaxy Digital is the largest public employer in Dickens County
• Galaxy is the largest taxpayer in Dickens County Community involvement:
• A large donor to Motley-Dickens Old Settlers Reunion & Rodeo
• Reading to children at Spur library story time, and donating AI and Data Center books
• Sponsoring “The Minecraft Movie” for Spur’s Palace Theater Back to School movie night
• Renovation of Spur’s Swenson Park Swimming Pool, enjoyed by an increasing number of patrons Donation budget for 2025 supporting:
• First Responders and Emergency Services
• Senior Citizens and Community Resources
• Youth Services and Education
• Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation ‘As a result of the Galaxy/CoreWeave partnership, we should see tax breaks to property owners, improved housing availability, an increase ofwellpaying full- time jobs and hopefully, an overall improvement to our quality of life.’
—Dickens CountyJudge Kevin Brendle
technology skyrockets and enterprises poised to profit seek clean, renewable, affordable energy to power them. Abilene, Childress, Silverton and Turkey are just a few of the West Texas cities to recently open their doors to such development.
But Dickens County was already there.
The commission inked a deal July 28 with Galaxy Digital, owners of the 1,000-acre Helios facility that was initially constructed north of Dickens in 2020 for Bitcoin mining and is already making the leap to HPC (high performance computing), to provide $18.5 million in PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) funding plus an additional $2 million for housing, to offset anticipated property taxes over ten years.
The total valuation of Galaxy’s plant in this phase alone is expected to reach $1 billion, with a gross power capacity of 200 megawatts, according to Section 4-E of the abatement agreement.
“A tremendous amount of effort and research has finally paid off,” said County Judge Kevin Brendle. “This much-anticipated agreement with Galaxy is poised to launch a major impact to Dickens County,” he said. “As a result of the Galaxy/ CoreWeave partnership, we should see tax breaks to property owners, improved housing availability, an increase of well-paying fulltime jobs and hopefully, an overall improvement to our quality of life.”
Galaxy’s Helios facility is at the forefront of global transformation in infrastructure, said company spokespersonMichael Wursthorn. Growth is already in its plan. “With 800 MW of approved power capacity and the potential to scale up to 2.5 GW, Helios ranks among the largest data center developments in North America,” he said.
That’s a lot of business development and staffing for a rural county where cattle far outnumber people to absorb. Galaxy, however, is invested in creating a local quality of life not only for its workers but for Dickens County as a whole.
Housing suitable for a professional class is a challenge, but it’s one that the county and Galaxy have been preparing to meet.
During the July 28 session of the Dickens County commission, county attorney Aaron Clements called attention to the agreement’s provision for a $2 million secondary payment for new housing to provide a range of living opportunities within the county.
Brendle said there will be a separate board formed to manage this funding. “We’re not focused on temporary workers — we’re focusing on this industry long-term,” he said. Helios expects to hire more than 100 permanent jobs; its tenant, CoreWeave, may add another 50 or more.
“Some of these employees will bring education and experience,” said Brendle, citing computer engineers as one example, but also mentioning the increased need throughout the community for employees such as teachers, DPS patrol officers, extension service, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and others. Galaxy workers’ spouses and children will enhance the community as well.
“If we don’t start creating the housing for them, they’ll commute,” Brendle said. “We want to build a permanent workforce that will stay here and work here and benefit our businesses.” To that end, home builders have already been contacted, and the Texas Communities Group consultants have also been involved in discussions.
The focus will be on building within municipalities where utilities are available, Brendle said, but also within unincorporated communities such as McAdoo, which has a water system and could develop land for housing projects.
Brendle said that Galaxy also plans for a “man camp” and RV hookups on its own property, but that those facilities will not be sufficient to house all of its employees. In addition, “there should be a need for all other RV parks in the county,” he said—of which a number were built out in 2023 to serve a boom of workers at a solar facility on the county’s southern border.
Brendle feels that the Dickens commission has worked diligently to negotiate an agreement that is favorable to the county in the long run, rather than to pursue a “really significant abatement” up front.
One of those long-term preparations the judge cited was the homestead tax exemption put into place earlier this year that will provide an immediate benefit to all property taxpayers. The budget voted on by commissioners on Monday, he explained, already takes into consideration the certified values anticipated in the abatement exemptions.
Galaxy’s initial payment of $500,000—plus the $2 million secondary payment for housing—are due to the county October 1, 2026.
Additionally, Galaxy has a non-binding agreement in place with CoreWeave for a second phase of development, expected to be even larger than the first, according to Brendle The county anticipates that any future phase will be tied to such development—so if the metaphorical railroad is arriving with its carloads of settlers once again, it’s only the vanguard.
“We must be in a position to provide some direction to ensure a maximum benefit to all county residents,” said Brendle, who expanded on another factor: “But for this to be the case, local leaders need to be involved.” He cited the need for cities and citizens, and community organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, to inform themselves for the future.
“We are in an era of transformation,” the county judge acknowledged. “Change is inevitable, but improvement is an option.”
