BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — The announcement of 147 layoffs by Weatherford, a company in the natural gas industry that has a substantial presence in Buckhannon, is now a top concern for recently elected Mayor David McCauley.
“First off, our first most concern and empathy is for the 147 employees and their families,” he said. “Secondarily it has a substantial impact on our local economy, as you might guess.”
McCauley said that they would already be noticing decreased revenues in short order–especially in the motel and hotel industry.
“We are a city of just under 6,000 citizens, and all of Upshur County is just about 25,000 citizens,” he said. “Of course, many of those are children. When you take away the kid part of our population and you plug people into jobs, 147 is a big hit any way you slice it.”
Lost revenue could mean reductions in the local government budget down the road, but McCauley said it would be poor governance to try and make that revenue up through tax increases.
“The last thing you want to do is overreact in a situation like this and create that spiral effect,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Okay, we need more revenue since we had some displaced. Where else can we hit the taxpayer to replace that revenue?'”
McCauley did say the city would try to operate as aggressively as possible in pursuing new opportunities. Noting that population reductions are always a concern after a large lay-off, he remained hopeful that Buckhannon’s economy is diverse enough to be able to handle the loss of jobs.
“Our economy, unlike many of those communities around, we are blessed to have a pretty diverse, versatile economy,” he said. “Our most substantial employers here are St. Joseph’s Hospital, which is of course now owned by WVU Hospitals. West Virginia Wesleyan College is a substantial player when it comes to employment.”
The layoffs will officially go into effect on August 28.
“A lot of the people rent or have homes here, mortgages to pay, rent to pay,” McCauley said. “That impacts a lot of our business.”
On Friday, Energy Corporation of America announced a job reduction of 67 positions. 28 of those jobs were spread across Kanawha, Gilmer, and Upshur counties.