CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There is more than a few legislative priorities in 2019 for county commissioners across West Virginia.
They were discussed amongst commissioners and political leaders Monday at the County Commissioners’ Association of West Virginia (CCAWV) Legislative Platform Conference in Charleston.
“This gets county commissioners from across the state together to further discuss our priorities that have been set and hear the issues that are on the plate for them as far as individual counties,” Vivian Parsons, Executive Director for the CCAWV, said. “We kind of have a philosophy of first hurt no one. If we can help individual counties with legislation and it doesn’t hurt anybody else we try to do that as well.”
Of the top priorities during the CCAWV conference, one is to support legislation that will allow counties to enact a local 1% county sales tax. Parsons said they are looking for ways of revenue.
“Counties are struggling to keep up with our mandates,” she said. “The whole bulk of paying for regional jails fall on the backs of counties and we have no new revenue sources with which to deal with that responsibility, and we desperately need it.”
President of the CCAWV and President of the Ohio County Commission, Tim McCormick, said they have been working hard to set up a strategy to support other legislation too including identifying additional revenue sources and jail population reduction methods.
“Jail cost is always at the top of the list,” he said. “We are always looking for ways to cut that cost.”
CCAWV wants to support legislation to allow county commissioners an ongoing mechanism to consider compensation increases for elected county officials every two years in an amount up to the increase in the annual Consumer Price Index published in the United State Department of Commerce over the prior two years or three percent, whichever is greater.
They also want to support legislation to eliminate or to increase the level of realized tax revenues over the previous year to 110% before the property tax rollback provision applies.
Parsons said they also have concern over the conversation of removing the inventory and machinery tax.
“Not that we like it but it is part of what runs county government,” she said of the tax. “So we are very concerned that if it is eliminated that we have a revenue source to backfill that. We certainly cannot afford to lose more money. We can’t meet our responsibilities now, several counties are behind on jail bills because of revenue sources.”
Governor Jim Justice and U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito spoke to the conference Monday morning and state legislators will be at the conference Monday evening for a reception, which allows for 1-on-1 time for many commissioners and legislators.
“It’s not a huge reception but it is not a very small one, it is in between,” McCormick said. “It makes it a little homey, a little more personal. There is room and time to talk to individually with legislators while they are relaxed in a sense. They are not in the office, they are not in the Capitol where everybody is pulling at their arm.”