May 8, 2010
Occupation Tax ‘Time Out’ Heads Huntington Council Agenda
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Following the Friday, May 7 work session of Huntington City Council, both council chairman James Insco and Finance Committee chairman Steve Williams reiterated the obvious --- the current proposal for the occupation tax is dead.
Insco said the proposal has no council support. Williams will sponsor the motion to withdraw the tax from the agenda.
That leaves the city with a fiscal 2010-2011 budget that includes furloughs , layoffs and other cutbacks due to decreasing tax revenue attributable to the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
“We will call time out, regroup, and repackage with other ordinance(s) to restructure our businesses taxes so as to be more friendly toward business and employment development,” Williams said at the work session, encouraging those in attendance to consider crafting an “encompassing tax reform” package.
The draft one-percent proposal as presented “has no council support at all,” Insco stressed. “I would say it is a dead issue.”
Originally, council had leaned toward a piece-meal amendment process to the proposal with possible adjustments ranging from a cap on the tax to a reduction for those who work but do not live in the city and reduction of additional city fees.
However, public hearings brought intense criticism from individual speakers and from the Huntington Chamber of Commerce, Marshall University Faculty Senate, Steel of WV and others.
At the Monday night May 10 meeting, council will also have on its plate passage of CDBG funded projects, which have taken a “tremendous hit” in the words of Insco due to a $404,000 payment on the Kinetic Park loan.
Council woman Sandra Clements said the decisions were “very difficult” this year due to the constraints of the KP loan payment.
Vice Chairman Mark Bates stressed that the Huntington Municipal Development Authority is hurting financially particularly since S.N.E., which manufactured vinyl windows, moved out of another HMDA (the former Owens Illinois facility) , leaving little remaining rental revenue for payment of the KP loan. SNE closed in 2008 putting 130 employees out of work. Tom Bell, Executive Director, attempted to negotiate an interest only or deferred loan payment, but was unsuccessful.
As a result of the KP loan obligation, Insco said that most of those who applied for CDBG funding will receive “partial” awards.
Seeking to find a possible positive, councilman Nate Randolph inquired whether the loan payment and partial funding represented a “worst case scenario.” Bates agreed, but with the failure of the effort to defer or reduce the loan obligation, unless “property could be sold” or other funding found , the allocations will likely stand.
A meeting will be held next week of H.M.D.A. to discuss the cash crunch.
In addition, councilwoman Frances Jackson stated that the Public Safety Committee will meet at 6:45 p.m. Monday (before the council meeting) to receive a report on the pending teen court proposal. Tim White, who heads the Weed and Seed project, will be on hand.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
Occupation Tax ‘Time Out’ Heads Huntington Council Agenda
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Following the Friday, May 7 work session of Huntington City Council, both council chairman James Insco and Finance Committee chairman Steve Williams reiterated the obvious --- the current proposal for the occupation tax is dead.
Insco said the proposal has no council support. Williams will sponsor the motion to withdraw the tax from the agenda.
That leaves the city with a fiscal 2010-2011 budget that includes furloughs , layoffs and other cutbacks due to decreasing tax revenue attributable to the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
“We will call time out, regroup, and repackage with other ordinance(s) to restructure our businesses taxes so as to be more friendly toward business and employment development,” Williams said at the work session, encouraging those in attendance to consider crafting an “encompassing tax reform” package.
The draft one-percent proposal as presented “has no council support at all,” Insco stressed. “I would say it is a dead issue.”
Originally, council had leaned toward a piece-meal amendment process to the proposal with possible adjustments ranging from a cap on the tax to a reduction for those who work but do not live in the city and reduction of additional city fees.
However, public hearings brought intense criticism from individual speakers and from the Huntington Chamber of Commerce, Marshall University Faculty Senate, Steel of WV and others.
At the Monday night May 10 meeting, council will also have on its plate passage of CDBG funded projects, which have taken a “tremendous hit” in the words of Insco due to a $404,000 payment on the Kinetic Park loan.
Council woman Sandra Clements said the decisions were “very difficult” this year due to the constraints of the KP loan payment.
Vice Chairman Mark Bates stressed that the Huntington Municipal Development Authority is hurting financially particularly since S.N.E., which manufactured vinyl windows, moved out of another HMDA (the former Owens Illinois facility) , leaving little remaining rental revenue for payment of the KP loan. SNE closed in 2008 putting 130 employees out of work. Tom Bell, Executive Director, attempted to negotiate an interest only or deferred loan payment, but was unsuccessful.
As a result of the KP loan obligation, Insco said that most of those who applied for CDBG funding will receive “partial” awards.
Seeking to find a possible positive, councilman Nate Randolph inquired whether the loan payment and partial funding represented a “worst case scenario.” Bates agreed, but with the failure of the effort to defer or reduce the loan obligation, unless “property could be sold” or other funding found , the allocations will likely stand.
A meeting will be held next week of H.M.D.A. to discuss the cash crunch.
In addition, councilwoman Frances Jackson stated that the Public Safety Committee will meet at 6:45 p.m. Monday (before the council meeting) to receive a report on the pending teen court proposal. Tim White, who heads the Weed and Seed project, will be on hand.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
