MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Commission is working with Monongalia County Assessor Mark Music on an oil and gas assessment error relating to a little more than 8,000 tax tickets.
County Administrator Rennetta McClure told commissioners Wednesday the error was discovered by a taxpayer who brought it to their attention. The tickets were issued with zero taxes owed, all related to oil and gas assessments.
“The Monongalia County Assessor’s Office is working on developing a process to help check for those errors in the future,” McClure said. “Based on the amount of money, time, and manpower it would take to complete the task, the recommendation is to take no corrective action.”
If 100 percent of the revenue were collected from the tickets, the county would take in more than $16,000, but it would take $38,000 to reissue the tickets, resulting in a loss of nearly $22,000.
“The report said there would be 8,027 tax tickets showing a zero dollar amount due,” McClure said. “Ms. Palmer presented the approximate cost of what it would take to reissue those tickets with an average amount due of $2.06.”
Commission President Sean Sikora wants to meet with state officials to learn why the problem happened and how it can be prevented in the future. Sikora also left the door open to reissue the tickets pending the outcome of meetings with the state.
“I would at least like for us to reach out to the state and get some verification or accounting for them on why this problem is happening and what steps they’re taking to prevent it in the future,” Sikora said.
Update on UMWA vote
Earlier this year some workers in the Monongalia County Assessor’s Office organized with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and McClure read correspondence into the record from Assessor Music regarding an upcoming vote by the 41 employees in the office. In June, employee Amy Gumney accused the commission of fostering a “good old boys club” and questioned why employee healthcare costs continue to increase while the county maintains a cash surplus.
“I wanted to inform the commission there will be a vote by the staff on Thursday, September 26,” McClure said. “This will not interfere with working hours, and I wanted to let you know out of respect for the commission.”
Commissioner Tom Bloom said a recent uptick in activity at the Youth Services Center is a concern. The center regularly houses eight people dealing with homelessness, and that number has increased to 10, but Bloom said they do have the bed space to accommodate the additional people.
“Unfortunately, in the last several months we’ve been serving 10 individuals there, and that’s not a good sign,” Bloom said.