July 14, 2010
ANALYSIS: West Virginia Home Rule Pilot Program Faces 2012 Evaluation
Cities Warned to Be Ready to Return to Pre-Home Rule Status; Citizen Input on Proposals
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – During the Monday night marathon Huntington council meeting that included first readings and discussion of a tax reform package, Councilman Russ Houck expressed concern about the time limitations of the pilot program. The authority of Huntington and the other “pilot” cities will be evaluated by the legislative home rule committee in 2012, then, unless extended, the authority expires June 30, 2013.
Jon Amores, WV deputy secretary of commerce, in a 2008 PBS interview stated, “All of these cities will have to conduct some research to see how they can end the programs they implement because once this home rule pilot program expires, anything they have changed will need to be changed again," he said.
Legislators Carol Miller and Kelli Sobonya in a letter to the Herald Dispatch both stated, “The bill required a legislative performance review in 2012 to ascertain whether it should be continued, reduced, expanded or terminated. This so-called pilot program expires on July 1, 2013.”
Huntington was the only city that proposed overhauling its tax structure. Clark Davis, WV PBS, reported that “two of the things that stood out in the Huntington proposal were the occupation tax and the need for a land bank. The occupational tax would take one percent of a person’s salary directly out of their paycheck. This would take the place of the current $2 a week user fee.” A separate report by Davis called it an “income tax.”
Then Mayor David Felinton told PBS, “ It’s important to recognize that unless you’re making less than $10,400 a year you are going to be paying more under this new system than you would, than you’re currently paying at again $2 a week on the user fee, $104 a year. This is done more fairly, it's evenly, it’s one percent for anyone who’s working in the city.
Wheeling Mayor Nick Sparachane told WV PBS in 2008, “Huntington is taking a look at their tax structure and trying to figure out a way to lessen the B&O burden on businesses and taking a look a different alternative means of taxation.”
The “occupation tax” had been labeled the most controversial aspect of Huntington’s home rule proposal, which included insurance liens on abandoned / dilapidated properties, land bank,
State Sen. Ed Bowman, of the Home Rule Board, told WV PBS reporter, Clark Davis, in May 2008, that the program required the participation of city council and participation from their citizens in the rulemaking process.
“Ultimately it comes back to the citizens [speaking] out as to whether or not they agree with what city council wishes to do or not do. Then they’ll honestly take a vote at city council, but the whole philosophy is to let the people locally decide what they want. Let’s take Charleston out of what goes on at the local level and I think we will see a better more responsible municipal government in West Virginia.”
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ANALYSIS: West Virginia Home Rule Pilot Program Faces 2012 Evaluation
Cities Warned to Be Ready to Return to Pre-Home Rule Status; Citizen Input on Proposals
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – During the Monday night marathon Huntington council meeting that included first readings and discussion of a tax reform package, Councilman Russ Houck expressed concern about the time limitations of the pilot program. The authority of Huntington and the other “pilot” cities will be evaluated by the legislative home rule committee in 2012, then, unless extended, the authority expires June 30, 2013.
Jon Amores, WV deputy secretary of commerce, in a 2008 PBS interview stated, “All of these cities will have to conduct some research to see how they can end the programs they implement because once this home rule pilot program expires, anything they have changed will need to be changed again," he said.
Legislators Carol Miller and Kelli Sobonya in a letter to the Herald Dispatch both stated, “The bill required a legislative performance review in 2012 to ascertain whether it should be continued, reduced, expanded or terminated. This so-called pilot program expires on July 1, 2013.”
Huntington was the only city that proposed overhauling its tax structure. Clark Davis, WV PBS, reported that “two of the things that stood out in the Huntington proposal were the occupation tax and the need for a land bank. The occupational tax would take one percent of a person’s salary directly out of their paycheck. This would take the place of the current $2 a week user fee.” A separate report by Davis called it an “income tax.”
Then Mayor David Felinton told PBS, “ It’s important to recognize that unless you’re making less than $10,400 a year you are going to be paying more under this new system than you would, than you’re currently paying at again $2 a week on the user fee, $104 a year. This is done more fairly, it's evenly, it’s one percent for anyone who’s working in the city.
Wheeling Mayor Nick Sparachane told WV PBS in 2008, “Huntington is taking a look at their tax structure and trying to figure out a way to lessen the B&O burden on businesses and taking a look a different alternative means of taxation.”
The “occupation tax” had been labeled the most controversial aspect of Huntington’s home rule proposal, which included insurance liens on abandoned / dilapidated properties, land bank,
State Sen. Ed Bowman, of the Home Rule Board, told WV PBS reporter, Clark Davis, in May 2008, that the program required the participation of city council and participation from their citizens in the rulemaking process.
“Ultimately it comes back to the citizens [speaking] out as to whether or not they agree with what city council wishes to do or not do. Then they’ll honestly take a vote at city council, but the whole philosophy is to let the people locally decide what they want. Let’s take Charleston out of what goes on at the local level and I think we will see a better more responsible municipal government in West Virginia.”
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
