Couple Sees Taxes Soar $35K While Trapped By Lawsuits Over NoVA Data Center

GAINESVILLE, VA — Homeowners whose land will become part of the Digital Gateway data center project face spikes in their tax bill of roughly $35,000 due to higher assessments after the rezoning. But lawsuits have delayed the project, leaving at least one couple struggling to pay their soaring taxes.

As the Prince William Board of County Supervisors again lowered the real estate tax rate, homeowners whose property values increased will see smaller bumps to their tax bills than with a flat rate. But that's not the case for homeowners whose land was intended for sale to the Digital Gateway data center development.

Despite litigation that has paused the start of development, homeowners are stuck with land that has climbed in value.

In 2023, Lelia Bartruff and her husband's Gainesville home was assessed at about $580,000, which is average for a home in Prince William County. Then in late 2023, the Board of County Supervisors approved rezoning for the Digital Gateway, which is expected to provide a massive data center campus on more than 2,000 acres near Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Once homes were assessed again in the new year, the Bartruff's home more than quadrupled in value to over $2.6 million. The latest assessment in 2025 for the property was over $4.4 million.

"Over the course of the last year and a half, our taxes have gone from $6,000 a year to $41,000 a year, which we just can't afford it," Bartruff told Patch. "My husband is the breadwinner, and he's a Prince William County school teacher. Our income has not gone up by $30,000. We just, quite literally, can't afford it."

Planned Home Sales Stuck Amid Legal Fights

The Bartruffs have lived in Prince William County for more than 12 years, and their elementary school-aged children have grown up there. Bartruff and her neighbors agreed to sell their land with the expectation that the sale would close in a normal timeline, not long after the late 2023 Digital Gateway rezoning.

They planned to use money from the sale to find a new home elsewhere.

However, those sales have been on hold with the lawsuit challenging the county's Digital Gateway approval. In January 2024, nine residents and the American Battlefield Trust filed a lawsuit in Prince William County Circuit Court claiming violations in the county approval process for Digital Gateway.

A judge's ruling in October 2024 rejected the lawsuit, but the plaintiffs said in December 2024 that they were appealing the decision in the Virginia Court of Appeals.

For Bartruff and other homeowners, land being sold to developers is under contract, but the sale cannot close until the court battles are resolved. To pay the increased tax bills, the Bartruff family has used up savings, taken out loans and appealed the assessment to the county.

However, the couple lost that appeal. She said the developer who has their land under contract has provided loans to pay taxes, but that's money they have to repay.

Bartruff said she doesn't understand why the county is assessing the property in the rezoned way while it is still a home and development is on hold.

"It would make it would make sense if this was developer's property, if the developers could go and build what they're trying to build, but they can't. These lawsuits are currently blocking that," said Bartruff. "They can't develop anything on this property, and so it is still just us, still just living here in our houses, and we don't have that kind of money."

Tax Costs Climb For Neighbors

Neighbors are facing similar hardships with the spikes in home property values, according to Bartruff.

"One of my neighbors is also a school teacher for Prince William County, and my other neighbor next door is retired," said Bartruff. "He doesn't have the ability to pay a mortgage that's now four times what it was two years ago."

Until the Digital Gateway litigation is decided in court, Bartruff says the homeowners are stuck in the homes.

"They can't sell it to developers because the rezoning hasn't occurred," said Bartruff. "We couldn't sell it to someone who wanted to be a homeowner for multiple reasons: A. because it's under contract to developers, but B. even if it wasn't, who's gonna buy a $600,000 house that comes with the taxes of a $4.5 million house?"

Bartruff has spoken to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors about the matter, most recently on Tuesday.

"I'm just really desperate for the supervisors to notice, or for other people to notice and step up and say, 'however you feel about the Digital Gateway or not, this is still not something that should be happening'," said Bartruff.

A Prince William County spokesperson told Patch that the county cannot comment due to ongoing litigation on the matter.

"As a general matter, Virginia law requires the county to assess property at its fair market value," the county spokesperson said. "If a homeowner has questions or any concerns about their assessment, they should reach out to the Real Estate Assessment's Office."

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