By Adam Pack
Members of the Greenbrier County Commission hosted guest speakers from around the state on Wednesday, Oct. 19 on the topic of Amendment 2 and their opposition to it. Present at the meeting were members of the public, members of the County Commission, President of the West Virginia Association of Counties Jonathan Adler, and the Monongalia County Assessor Mark Music.
The two, in tandem with Commissioner Tammy Tincher, presented their case against the passing of Amendment 2, a West Virginia state constitutional amendment which would give the legislature the authority to exempt machinery, equipment, inventory, and personal vehicles from taxation by local governments. Adler stated that this amendment, if passed, would “significantly reduce the county’s ability to provide essential services to county residents.”
The panel went on to add that these taxes are currently guaranteed income written into the West Virginia constitution and provide a dedicated revenue stream for schools, county government and municipal government. According to the Adler, “The amount of money that these taxes cover differs from one estimate to the next,” but that there is widespread agreement on a number between “$515 million and $600 million.” According to the county assessor and state tax department, “approximately $6,615,000” was collected in tax revenue by Greenbrier County in 2021 on machinery, business and inventory, and vehicle personal property taxes. Approximately 66 percent of these taxes are required to go to the Board of Education, 26 percent goes to the county, and 8 percent goes to the municipalities.
Commissioner Tincher weighed in, saying that “Our county, and every county, really, use these funds to operate the courthouse and other county offices first, then we provide annual budgets for all county departments like the Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Services, 911, the Health Department, and then we look at flood control, public transport and annual funding for the Greenbrier Humane Society. Those things further down the list, those discretionary items, little leagues and things too, could fail to be funded if this amendment passes.”
Of great concern for opponents of Amendment 2 is that, according to Mark Music, “There is no agreement between the [chambers] as to how soon tax changes will come. The Senate has a plan, but the house has no plan as to how soon tax changes will come. The Senate wants immediate change, immediate tax cuts, the House wants to phase them in over time and has yet to give any detail as to how they’ll do it.”
This underscores a point which Music, as a County Assessor, wanted to drive home. “Listen very carefully and tell your friends, if this amendment passes, you are still legally obligated to pay your car tax until the legislature gets rid of it. Do not be on the delinquent tax list because you think the car tax is gone because Amendment 2 passed. It will not immediately get rid of your car tax.” As far as possible shortfalls in county budgets may be remedies, Adler informed the crowd of the most likely answer: “An increase in your real estate property tax, and the increase and implementation of new and higher consumption taxes. And folks, that’s on top of record high inflation.”
Music spoke for all of the speakers there that “if passed and these taxes are removed, local levying bodies, the counties and the municipalities, will have to annually compete with other entities around the state for a cut of the state’s general revenue fund. I have no problem with the legislature trying to make West Virginia more business friendly, but this just isn’t the way to do it, and we want to work together with them to come up with something better.”
Adler followed up with conciliatory words of his own for the legislature, “The provision that this amendment changes is from 1932, and West Virginia is now ranked ninth in the overall business climate, so I think they have done well and worked hard up there and they are trying to make creative and fresh ideas to meet modern challenges and times. But I think my colleague Mark, the county commissioners all over West Virginia, and your wonderful commission here in Greenbrier all have some great ideas and would be able to come together and keep making West Virginia even better.”
Amendment 2 was also a topic of discussion at this month’s meetings of Lewisburg City Council and Alderson Town Council, with both municipalities voicing opposition to the amendment.
A resolution passed by Alderson states, “The town of Alderson realizes the ramifications of the removal of associated taxes from the county and local level has a detrimental effect on those local government units” and “the state legislature has no plan … to offset this loss of revenue.”
Treasurer Susan Honaker with the City of Lewisburg estimates that roughly $220,000 to $230,000 of Lewisburg’s budget is secured through resources that could be destabilized in the future should Amendment 2 pass. Councilmembers are concerned that the plan is not “fully developed.”
Lewisburg City Manager Misty Hill said, “It’s not that this just came about, this was first presented to our municipal league in 2017, so it’s not that it didn’t have time to come out of the plan, we just don’t have a plan.”
