Elon's comments on X about the vote today.

Something that perhaps isn’t clear is that, if this location works out (other locations are still in the running), SpaceX will still be paying an annual amount that increases tax revenue for Grimes County by ~25% and will be by far the biggest source of revenue for the county.…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 4, 2026

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Something that perhaps isn't clear is that, if this location works out (other locations are still in the running), SpaceX will still be paying an annual amount that increases tax revenue for Grimes County by ~25% and will be by far the biggest source of revenue for the county.

Taking into account taxes paid by SpaceX employees and contractors, Terafab will far exceed ALL revenue that Grimes County currently earns!

The reason SpaceX asked for this, which is standard practice for massive capital investments, is because Terafab will have a large number of extremely expensive machines for making chips. Property tax on these crazy money machines would put us at a serious competitive disadvantage relative to other chip fabs in the world.

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They bought the land (6000 acres) and the water rights last week. I guess it's not guaranteed, but it seems really likely.

Elon's not wrong. I didn't realize this until I started my own business in Grimes County. I have to submit annual values of my business property including equipment, inventory, vehicles etc. I always thought of property taxes as land and buildings. I didn't know until I got a letter from Grimes county with a deadline to submit those values so they could tax me on it. Now, I do depreciate those pieces of equipment which helps and I'm sure Elon does the same (probably a lot better). It really bit me because we buy a lot of inventory on sale in December. Our big industry conference is that month and vendors give really good deals. So I got to pay property taxes on a bumper crop of inventory.

I didn't know this when I started my business and I bet a lot of non-business owners don't know either. Heck, my accountant failed to mention it when i asked "what other taxes do I need to know about" when I started. After I got the letter from Grimes, the accountant said they would be happy to file that for me for a fee. I'm on the lookout for a new accountant.

Infrastructure for Grimes county will be their key concern.

Getting to Carlos from anywhere is now an issue. FM244/90 route will never handle the Houston traffic. FM30 needs major improvements from Huntsville to Carlos and from Carlos to College Station they will need to replace the Navasota River bridge.

I do not see the good people of Grimes county paying for any of these improvements.

HWY 30 improvements were needed 10 years ago or more

This may be enough incentive to change the interstate route to BCS from 21 to 30. We'll see.

SCHTICK00 said:

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HWY 30 improvements were needed 10 years ago or more

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Hwy 30 sucked in Grimes County back in the late 80s when I was driving to Huntsville regularly and is somewhat better now with passing zones. It improves greatly when you get to Walker County.

techno-ag said:

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Muzzleblast said:

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Mostly H1B and their chain migration. Won't be much for locals. That's the SpaceX model.
Enjoy the curry.

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Negative. Go look at their launch site in South Texas. They bring in highly skilled, highly paid people. Musk built a city for them down there. This is one of the top companies in the country, in the world right now. It's a big deal.

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SpaceX can not hire non-US Citizens. There is restrictions given the potential of the technology to be quickly changed into weapons.

Elon made several comments about being called out for non-DEI hires and saying he is literally regulated by the Gov to hire US Citizens who clear background checks.

techno-ag said:

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Red Pear Luke said:

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techno-ag said:

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Muzzleblast said:

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Mostly H1B and their chain migration. Won't be much for locals. That's the SpaceX model.
Enjoy the curry.

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Negative. Go look at their launch site in South Texas. They bring in highly skilled, highly paid people. Musk built a city for them down there. This is one of the top companies in the country, in the world right now. It's a big deal.

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SpaceX can not hire non-US Citizens. There is restrictions given the potential of the technology to be quickly changed into weapons.

Elon made several comments about being called out for non-DEI hires and saying he is literally regulated by the Gov to hire US Citizens who clear background checks.

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That's right. There was a lawsuit for NOT hiring H1Bs down in South Texas.

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As your chair for the Brazos Valley Council of Governments (BVCOG) Intergovernmental Committee, we'll be convening early and often throughout this process. It's the natural venue to bring everyone together.

Respectfully

Yancy '95 Place 5

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1LQxLyMoWX/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Hey I'm a rookie and grandfather of 5. I'm trying… lol

Respectfully

Yancy '95

That building is going to be about 50x what is shown

TyHolden said:

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Bob Yancy said:

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Hey I'm a rookie and grandfather of 5. I'm trying… lol

Respectfully

Yancy '95

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I caught the very end of your interview on KBTX. Is this online somewhere? Do you have an X account? Appreciate all the work being put in.

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I do but I barely use it. Facebook and Texags pretty much tap me out. I missed that story so I've not seen it myself. KBTX is really good about posting them on their website the next day, though.

Respectfully

Yancy '95 Place 5

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Bob Yancy, a College Station city council member who chairs the Brazos Valley Intergovernmental Committee, says Texas has seen this kind of explosive growth before and knows what happens when communities aren't ready for it.

"College Station and Bryan and Navasota, we're all the Hutto in that example to Grimes County's Taylor, if you will," Yancy said.


He's referring to Taylor, Texas, where the Samsung chip plant brought a wave of growth that neighboring Hutto wasn't fully prepared to absorb. Yancy says the Brazos Valley has one advantage Taylor didn't have, time to prepare. But he warns that the window is closing fast.

Yancy is clear-eyed about what's coming. He says the benefits are real, but so are the challenges.

On the positive side, he expects a significant increase in average wages across the region and an opportunity for Texas A&M graduates to build careers in the Brazos Valley rather than leaving for Dallas, New York or Los Angeles.

But he also warns of more traffic, a wave of suppliers following SpaceX into the region, potentially dozens or even hundreds of companies looking for a new home, and a housing market that isn't moving fast enough to keep up.


"I think we need to fast-track our housing," Yancy said. "I think in College Station it takes us too long, the approval process, the permit process."

Public safety infrastructure is another concern. The $20 million annual payment SpaceX agreed to pay Grimes County will only go so far.

"The city of College Station spent $18 million on a single fire station," Yancy said. "So we're going to have to look at ways that we can work together to provide for housing, to provide for infrastructure, to provide public safety in a way that we've never done before."

Yancy says he plans to call regional leaders together through the Brazos Valley Council of Governments to begin coordinating a response.a

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https://www.kbtx.com/2026/06/05/terafabs-ripple-effect-could-transform-brazos-valley-beyond-grimes-county/

It seems that a PILOT of $20M per year is way too low, especially considering the amount of infrastructure that will quickly be necessary. As stated above a new fire station costs $18M today.

It becomes even worse because the commissioners didn't account for inflation. At a 2% inflation rate, in 35 years the $20M payment would be equivalent to considerably less than $10M (~9.8M if my calculations are correct).

For such a large facility, it seems that they are not paying anywhere near a reasonable share of taxes.

The county government seemed to be considering the idea of a big revenue influx compared to current budgets, but didn't take into account the huge additional costs to the county associated with such a massive project.

BuddysBud said:

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It seems that a PILOT of $20M per year is way too low, especially considering the amount of infrastructure that will quickly be necessary. As stated above a new fire station costs $18M today.

It becomes even worse because the commissioners didn't account for inflation. At a 2% inflation rate, in 35 years the $20M payment would be equivalent to considerably less than $10M (~9.8M if my calculations are correct).

For such a large facility, it seems that they are not paying anywhere near a reasonable share of taxes.

The county government seemed to be considering the idea of a big revenue influx compared to current budgets, but didn't take into account the huge additional costs to the county associated with such a massive project.

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I'm still struggling with the concept of $18 million for a single fire station in a low-cost area like College Station if that is simply the building and doesn't include any rolling stock. Governments can spend every nickel they receive and often spend beyond that.

$20 million a year for 35 years is $700 million. That is a lot of coin that can drive substantial improvements for Grimes County if managed wisely and not spuriously spent on wish-list items. As others have noted, that doesn't include school district taxes to educate kids. That would be a separate bucket of funding.

They're counting on all those sweet sweet property tax increases for all the little guys.

SpaceX doesn't need to pay a penny, if everyone else's values double.

I'd actually take a different approach with respect to the potential for economic development and growth.

Let's look at two scenarios: 1st is with SpaceX and Terafab and following growth, 2nd is status quo continuing as usual

1st Scenario:
SpaceX coming makes the area sticky from a regional perspective. Terafab and chip production is not an easy set up and creates quite literally a moat. Just look at TSMC (Taiwan SemiConducting Manufacturing Company). That is where 90%+ of the worlds chip supply comes out of. Took them years to build and get here. Not to mention Taiwan is 100 miles away from a Mainland China who wants to reassume control of the Island.

SpaceX coming here and establishing shop would literally be putting College Station on a map as a center of critical importance. The Brazos Valley will lose some of it's country feel but the population as a whole gains more. Gains more influence, expertise, wealth, knowledge and resources. The offset is land costs more, growing pains happen and you get a boatload of new neighbors.

You also get the "Shiny New Object" factor which helps assuage a lot of concerns. Will the kids be mad when they sell Grandpa's ranch? Probably - but they will probably get a nice big check. Will you avoid the unnecessary squabbling over Bond offerings to find CSISD's Athletic Facilities because there is actual money in the budget from the new tax base growth? Will you be able to find a reasonably paying job in a critical technology sector? Absolutely.

I have a buddy who lives in Calvert on 20 acres and drives to the Gigafactory in Texas 3-4 days a week to work as a maintenance tech. This allows his wife to stay home with the kids, home school them and afford them a chance to own their piece of the American dream. Before that he was working a TEEX for $22/hour and struggling.

2nd Scenario:
Status Quo stays the same. College Station continues to expand along HWY 6. It's just a steady growth. But look what's happened to Katy? What's happening to Waller? What's happening to Conroe? They are increasingly finding themselves on the footsteps of the Houston MSA's growing footprint. That is by all means not a bad thing and most of those cities could have seen it coming over 30 years.

Eventually College Station and the Brazos Valley will find themselves as one of those cities. The BV will become an Exurb and filled with ancillary growth from that metro's pull and increasingly dictated by the macro of that economy.


Final Thoughts:
I would rather see the Brazos Valley continue to grow and develop into it's own fiefdom. And one that is calling its own shots instead of being dictated by the growth surrounding it. There will be growing pains, but the BV still has a chance to influence its own growth. Would you rather have a half-assed data-center or one of the World's Cutting edge semi manufacturing facilities partnered with the former American giant Intel who led the original semi-conductor movement? What would you rather have the BCS economy built upon? The re-industrialization of America is upon us and the unfortunate reality is you either play the game or the game will play you. But I see this as a chance for "little brother" to flex his muscles and plant his own flag.