UPDATE: SpaceX Is Now Asking Cameron County for a Tax Break Too. The County's Paperwork Says $17.9 Billion and 500 Jobs.
This is an add-on to our Nov. 6 report on the City of Starbase notice for SpaceX's proposed gas-fired power plant and "super-compute facility."
On Nov. 6, we listed questions the Starbase notice did not answer. One of them: would SpaceX also ask Cameron County for a separate tax break?
A county document now answers that. Yes.
Read document here
WHAT THE DOCUMENT IS
It is a three-page item from the Cameron County Commissioners Court agenda packet for Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026. It is labeled Item 4-H.
It has two parts.
Part one is an Agenda Request Form. The county's Economic Development department filed it on Nov. 5. The contact and department head is Ramiro Aleman. A stamp shows the county received it Nov. 5 at 11:58 a.m.
Part two is a two-page draft public notice for County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. to sign. It is dated Nov. 17.
The request to commissioners is narrow. The caption asks for "consideration and authorization to post a notice of intent to consider a Ch. 312 tax abatement agreement with Space Exploration Technologies Corp." and to authorize the county judge to sign that notice.
In plain terms: the Nov. 17 vote is a vote to start the clock. It is not a vote on the tax break.
One detail on the form: the word "Consent" is crossed out and "Action" is written in by hand. Consent items are usually approved in a batch without discussion. Action items are taken up one at a time. The document does not say who made the change or why.
WHAT THE DOCUMENT SAYS (QUOTED DIRECTLY FROM THE RECORD)
The request. The form says SpaceX "is requesting a Tax Abatement of both real and personal property taxes related to construction and operation of a natural gas power plant and advanced super-computing campus in Cameron County, Texas."
The jobs. "The project is expected to create 500 new permanent jobs." This is the first job figure in any public record we have seen on this project. The Starbase notice gave none.
The cost. The form lists the estimated capital improvement cost at $17.9 billion. The draft notice repeats it and adds "estimated property tax values of $5.2 billion."
The applicant. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is listed as both property owner and applicant. The notice names Jane Hasselberg, Director - Indirect Tax, for the company.
The site. 444.46 acres, more or less, out of the east half of Tract "A" of Share 7, San Martin Grant. That matches the tract the City of Brownsville released from its city limits on Aug. 29. The notice also states that "Cameron County is an Enterprise Zone." As we explained Nov. 6, Texas law treats an enterprise zone as a reinvestment zone for abatement purposes.
The project description. The notice describes "a natural gas-fired power plant and a co-located super compute facility." It says the computing facility "will utilize closed-loop cooling systems for efficient water use," and that the power plant "will provide behind-the-meter power generation to limit the burden of new load on the ERCOT grid."
The hearing. Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2026, at 9:30 a.m., in the second-floor courtroom of the Cameron County Courthouse, Oscar C. Dancy Building, 1100 E. Monroe St., Brownsville. The notice says the court "will hold a public hearing to consider approval of tax abatement agreement."
The timing. State law requires this kind of notice at least 30 days before the meeting. Nov. 17 to Dec. 29 is 42 days.
WHAT IT DOES NOT SAY
- What percentage of the taxes would be abated.
- For how many years. State law caps a Chapter 312 abatement at 10 years.
- What SpaceX would have to deliver, and what happens if it does not.
- What the 500 jobs pay, or how many would go to local residents.
- How many megawatts the plant would generate.
- How much water the site would use.
- Who would use the computing power.
The proposed agreement itself is not in the packet item.
WHAT IT MEANS
1. There are now two tax-break tracks, on two dates.
The City of Starbase holds its hearing Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. Cameron County holds its hearing Dec. 29 at 9:30 a.m. Each government decides only its own share of the tax bill. The county hearing falls on the Tuesday between Christmas and New Year's Day.
2. The two governments have different price tags for the same project.
Starbase's notice says "approximately $24 billion" for "initial phases." The county's paperwork says $17.9 billion. That is a $6.1 billion difference. Neither document explains it. The two figures may measure different things, such as different phases or different pieces of the project. That is a possibility, not a finding. Which number is right, and why do they differ?
3. The jobs math. (Analysis)
$17.9 billion divided by 500 permanent jobs is about $35.8 million in investment per job. Large computing facilities cost a great deal to build and take few people to run. It means the public benefit case rests more on tax base than on payroll.
4. What the county's share could be worth. (Illustration, not a projection)
Cameron County's adopted 2026 tax rate is $0.424393 per $100 of value. Applied to the $5.2 billion in estimated taxable value, that comes to about $22.1 million a year in county property tax.
For scale, MyRGV reported in August that the county's tax rolls reached about $142.5 million for this budget year. So this one project, fully built and fully taxed, would equal roughly 15% of that.
Caveats belong next to that number every time it appears. The project would be built in phases. Computing equipment loses value quickly. The document does not say how much of the tax would be abated. And Aleman told MyRGV in 2024 that the county extends abatements only on the maintenance and operations part of its rate, not the parts for roads and bridges or debt. So even a full abatement may not cover the whole county bill. The $22.1 million figure shows the size of what is on the table. It is not what SpaceX would pay or save.
5. The timing against the old deal.
SpaceX's original county abatement was entered Aug. 22, 2014. The county's own list of abatement agreements ties it to a pledge of 300 jobs and $85 million in investment, with an incentive period ending in 2025. In March 2025, Aleman told commissioners SpaceX would begin owing the county's share of its tax bill in 2026, according to a MySanAntonio.com report on that meeting.
So this new request arrives in the first year the old deal is off the books. It is tied to the power plant and computing campus, not the launch site. And the numbers have changed: from $85 million and 300 jobs in 2014 to $17.9 billion and 500 jobs now.
6. The water and grid language is the company's description.
"Closed-loop cooling" and "behind-the-meter" are the two phrases in this notice that speak to the Valley's two biggest worries about data centers: water and the power grid. Both are claims on paper. No gallons, no megawatts and no grid connection details are attached. A gas plant has its own water and air footprint apart from the computers it serves. The pending state air filing we reported earlier lists 35 gas turbines and about 748 megawatts of temporary generation. How much water will the plant and the campus use together, and where will it come from?
7. The county is being asked while residents are already objecting.
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, environmental advocates gathered outside the county courthouse and called on county leaders to oppose the project, according to ValleyCentral. The Nov. 17 item is the first county action on this project in the records we have seen.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Nov. 17: Commissioners vote on whether to post the notice. Item 4-H.
Dec. 9, 7 p.m.: City of Starbase public hearing, 48491 State Highway 4.
Dec. 29, 9:30 a.m.: Cameron County public hearing, 1100 E. Monroe St., Brownsville.
Nothing has been approved by either government.
SOURCES
Cameron County Commissioners Court, Agenda Request Form No. 4-H and draft Public Notice of Intent to Consider Tax Abatement Agreement (filed Nov. 5, 2026; meeting date Nov. 17, 2026).
City of Starbase, Notice of Public Hearing, Tax Abatement, Dec. 9, 2026.
Cameron County, Notice of Meeting to Vote on Tax Rate (2026 rate of $0.424393 per $100).
MyRGV, "Cameron County sets public hearing on tax rate as it prepares new budget," Aug. 26, 2026.
ValleyCentral, "'Without community consent': Residents raise concerns over proposed SpaceX facility."
Rio Grande Valley Business Journal, Nov. 11, 2026 (also reported the county item).
Cameron County Economic Development, list of active tax abatement agreements (SpaceX contract 2014C08285).
MySanAntonio.com, Diana Arevalo, report on the March 25, 2025 Commissioners Court meeting and the expiring SpaceX abatement.
MyRGV, "Aleman becomes Cameron County's first economic development director," Jan. 29, 2024.
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