ST. ALBANS, W.Va. — West Virginia State Auditor JB McCuskey and mayors from around the state are praising the passage of SB 552, which changes tax codes to help address dilapidated buildings.
McCuskey stood alongside several mayors Monday morning in St. Albans to discuss the bill, which goes into law in June, and announced the next steps to help municipalities deal with dilapidated buildings through the Land Division of the State Auditor’s Office.
Appearing on Monday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline’ before their joint press conference, McCuskey said dilapidated buildings need to come down more rapidly in West Virginia based on their impact on safety, property values and attracting others to come into the state.
“When we tell people that this is Mayberry, this is the kind of place your family will be happy and safe, we have to clean up our towns. We have to make sure they shine and sparkle like we advertise they do,” McCuskey said.
McCuskey added this act provides $10 million in funding for cities and counties across the Mountain State for demolition purposes of properties. However, he said his office is already looking for additional funding because West Virginia has a $300 million problem.
“What we need to do with this initial round of funding is to build the process, make sure it works and works quickly and then make sure we find the rest of the money,” McCuskey said.
The bidding process for funding prioritizes three groups of people, McCuskey said, including neighbors of the property, cities and counties, payment plans for the current occupier.
McCuskey said the process removes an ‘enormous amount of bureaucratic red tape’ and gives cities and counties the ability to buy the properties. He said when there is a larger bidding process, the cost of demolition decreases.
His office has spent the past two months traveling around the state discussing the issues of dilapidated properties.
How will SB 552 help communities get rid of dilapidated buildings? @WVAuditor, WV State Auditor, and Scott James, Mayor of St. Albans, discuss the impact of this legislation with @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/EgtqKldLKu
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) April 18, 2022
The City of St. Albans in Kanawha County is one of the municipalities that has applied for funding in the first round. St. Albans Mayor Scott James says the Kanawha County city has more than 20 structures on its dilapidated buildings list.
James said the city tore down two vacated structures last week and has two more scheduled this week after partnering with the owners of the buildings. He said the city has $40,000 in the budget for demolitions but could use additional funds through the bill.
“We’re in the process right now of applying for this money through this bill. This would allow us to get the majority of the dilapidated buildings down here in St. Albans,” James said.
The mayor agreed with McCuskey, stating one of the top priorities of getting these structures down is safety. James said he gets multiple calls a week about vacated structures.
“We’ve had houses catch fire where vagrants go in during the winter and start fires. It puts an unnecessary drain upon our first responders, having to respond to these calls when people break into these buildings or start a fire,” James said.
Mayors in attendance on Monday included James, Chris Tatum of Barboursville, Tom Joyce of Parkersburg, Randy Rapp of Vienna, Tom Mainella of Fairmont, Dave Casebolt of Nitro, and Anne Cavalier of Smithers.
Travis Blosser, the Executive Director of West Virginia Municipal League was also at the press conference.