CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Board of Public Works agreed Monday to receive the tentative assessed values for the state’s public utilities for the 2026 tax year.
The board, which is made up of statewide elected officials including the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, state auditor, state agriculture commissioner and state school superintendent, learned the assessments are up about 10 percent, or $1.5 billion, from the previous tax year.
State Tax Commissioner Matt Irby says much of the increase is linked to the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).
“The primary amount of that increase is related to the finally coming on of the large pipeline project that became operational in June 2024, making it first assessible by this board,” Irby said.
MVP is a 303.5-mile interstate natural gas pipeline crossing nine West Virginia counties — Greenbrier, Monroe, Nicholas, Summers, Braxton, Harrison, Lewis, Webster and Wetzel — to transport natural gas to East Coast markets.
The project was first proposed in 2014, and the original in-service target date was 2018 at a cost of $3.5 billion.
The cost of the frequently-delayed pipeline project eventually cost about $7.85 billion.
MORE see tentative assessed values here
Gov. Patrick Morrisey asked how much of the increased assessed amount would make its way to the state’s coffers. Irby said most of the money would go to counties.
Morrisey also asked Irby Monday if there were other smaller pipeline projects that could have an impact on tax revenues. Irby said things have slowed down.
“We have fairly leveled off,” Irby said. “We’ve had a few years of significant increasing values that have trended along with inflation. As inflation has gotten under control we’ve seen those values flattening out and we haven’t gotten significant increases.”
The tentative total assessed value for all utilities accepted by the board Monday is for $16.2 billion.
State Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt noted a 21 percent decrease in assessed values when it comes to underground natural gas storage. Irby said there’s not as much gas to store.
“One of the primary drivers of the gas storage is the price of gas. A couple of years ago we had really high prices for (natural) gas and the result was really high gas storage values. Two years on, we’re at sort of almost a low point at the price of gas,” Irby said.
The Board of Public Works did not give final approval to the assessed values Monday. That will likely come in January once the utilities are given a chance to appeal the tentative assessments. Irby said his office would also enter into discussions with the utilities in hopes of gathering more information.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board voted to approve a deed between the state Department of Transportation and the City of Huntington in connection with the Hal Greer Blvd. improvement project.