POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — The growth realized in Mason County in recent years is beginning to have an impact on county coffers.
This week the Mason County Commission has voted to roll back levy rates in the county. It’s a move made possible by the increased revenues from companies like Nucor Steel. The rollback from 2.25 percent to 1.82 percent. The reduction will save taxpayers in the county $300,000 annually.
County Commissioner Rick Handley said it’s the first year Nucor will pay $1 Million in property taxes. For the past three years they were in a PILOT program (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) in which they paid on the property at its value as farmland. Handley said the increase will reduce the amount the county will need from individual taxpayers for the Fire, EMS, and PSD Levy fees. He said it’s realistic to think when the levy expires in another year, it may not need to be renewed.
“They go to a Million dollars a year. We were only getting not quite $800,000 or $700,000 with the levy and here we’re going to get a million dollars. It would be crazy to have your voters vote on a levy that you really don’t need,” he explained.
Handley anticipated it’s only the start as other companies who in recent months have announced plans to build in Mason County begin construction and come on line.
“The way the levy language read, it said you ‘shall give back’ if you’re getting more than what you originally anticipated, so we’re giving that back,” Handley said.
The levy pays for fire and ems services and for the Public Service District to maintain fire hydrants around Mason County.
The savings to all county taxpayers will be about $300,000 a year. Handley said he looked at his personal taxes and it will save him about $40.
“Forty-dollars will buy you a couple of gallons of gas,” he laughed.