DECISION 2026
State Senator Charles Perry discussed his intentions for the upcoming 2027 Legislative Session, at a town hall meeting on Oct. 21 at ASU’s Mayer Hall. His talk lasted for about 30 minutes, followed by a 30 minute Q-and-A.
The tone of this event was markedly different than other election year gatherings, as Perry has mostly stayed out of hot button issues, he discussed data centers, property taxes and water development.
Though many attempts were made to arrange debates, he did not appear at any events with his opponent, Democrat Riley Rodriquez of Abilene.
This town hall remains (to our knowledge) the only free-entry campaign event Perry held in San Angelo during this election cycle. This has been a trend among Republican candidates for office in West Texas recently, with the notable exception of Congressman August Pfluger, who appeared in one debate with his opponent Claire Reynolds.
The event was attended primarily by top city and county officials, along with about two dozen voters. Perry’s message focused on technocratic subjects; straying away from education and culture war issues. This point was hammered home by Perry’s repeated self-characterizations: “I’m the water guy.”
Perry spent a good while discussing data centers specifically defended what he called Gov. Abbott’s moratorium on data centers that refuse to comply with an audit of electric and water usage.
He also discussed water development in West Texas, arguing for the increased use of brackish groundwater as a fresh water source. He notably diverged from Gov. Abbott’s campaign trail talking points of further heavy cuts to property taxes, saying that there’s only so much more than can be expected before the state is unable to pay its bills.
Public Ownership of Water Utilities
Sen. Perry did not discuss public ownership of brackish water treatment facilities during his town hall, giving only examples of private development of this resource.
An example he cites frequently of positive developments is located near Turkey and Childress, where KCBD-TV reported in early September the AI data center being constructed there would require around 25,000-gallons per-day in water usage, and that the center is funding a desalination plant to treat the brackish groundwater, producing a one million-gallon per day surplus for the nearby towns.
“Childress, Texas runs out of water in…2027. [That is] pre AI. Today, an agreement is being signed this weekend. Probably a $20 million dollar brackish water desalination plant into the Plains aquifer.”
Perry uses this as an example of good actors in the data center industry.
No mention was made about any changes in Texas’ rule of capture statute, a topic of much concern both to water planners and landowners.
Future water sources for the Concho Valley lie in the West Texas Partnership with projects planned for the far west Edwards-Trinity aquifer; essentially trading water with Midland in exchange for a share of water from O.H. Ivie Reservoir, and in potential indirect potable reuse projects further down the line, something that is already in the TCEQ permitting stage.
Perry also discussed the 2026 Region F water plan in passing but did not mention that the water-use projections into 2070 are still reliant on average surface water levels being maintained (i.e. no droughts occur).
The Region F Water Plan was also in development before the new boom of data center developments, and the increase expected in industrial water use (what data centers would fall under) was only marginal.
Inquires into how much water data centers use remains a case by case concern.
All of these policies begin to get stressful for local planners once the prediction is made that some 50 million people will reside in Texas within the next few decades, something which again Perry mentioned in passing, but deferred to future legislatures.
Perry’s comments also stand in contrast to his opponent, who said he opposed privatization of water resources in a town hall meeting earlier this month.
Perry Pushes Back on Further Property Tax Cuts
Sen. Perry expressed concerns about further cuts to property taxes, saying that the state might be at its limit on how much it can cut while maintaining vital services.
This stands in contrast to the message delivered by Gov. Greg Abbott on the campaign trail this year, who has promised to target further property tax cuts; with most officials in city and county government speaking about future property tax limits (possibly as low as a 1.5-percent increase cap) as an inevitable problem to be dealt with to keep counties and municipalities in the black.
“I don’t believe that we can afford much more commitment and honor that commitment to our schools, honor our commitment to infrastructure…to our grid supply. I think that everybody in here assumes that their water’s never run dry, the tap will always work, and the lights will always come on.
“And I can tell you, if we continue down this path of [lowering] local property taxes, we will run out of discretionary spending to a point, then we’re already behind and we’ll never catch up.”
This comment would be well received by local officials, who have spent most of 2026 explaining how the State of Texas is setting them up for fiscal disaster, as they deal with more problems once funded in part by the federal and state governments.
Though Perry did not rule out more changes to homestead exemptions, which could result in lower tax rates.
He did go on to praise the property-tax cuts which have been made so far.
Data Centers Dominated Discussion
Most of the audience questions regarded a specific data center development in Tom Green County, a project of Beacon Data Centers.
Though Perry was not exceptionally familiar with the Beacon development near Dove Creek, in Tom Green County’s 4th Precinct — at one point questioning if it was an electricity generation facility or a data center; he told audience members that their complaints would be heard, and insisted that they testify publicly at TCEQ hearings.
He went on to say that the company would be “bad actors” if they refused to comply with state regulations, adding that the state should consider the location of data center developments when approving TCEQ permits.
The data center site, which was announced in April, has been contentious with locals in the nearby Dove Creek community, and at commissioners court; with an attempt to pass a “moratorium” on data center projects failing after Hill County commissioners were sued for attempting to pass a similar measure.
He commended the letter issued by Gov. Greg Abbott auditing power and water usage by data center developments — though reporting from Inside Climate News cast doubt on the strength of the governors moratorium. They reported on Oct. 19 that permitting processes still continued, and the Governors office countered that there would be no approvals of permits.
