Brooke Commission expresses concern over tax loss
Slip repair planned for Brooke Trail
WELLSBURG -- The Brooke County Commission agreed Tuesday to share with federal and state officials their concerns about a major miscalculation by the state's Tax Division while learning of pending repairs to a slip along the Brooke County Pioneer Trail.
County Commissioners A.J. Thomas, Stacey Wise and Tom Diserio approved a letter to Gov. Jim Justice, state Auditor J.B. McCuskey and several local representatives to the state Legislature expressing their concern over the loss of millions of dollars in tax revenue for Brooke and other counties.
State tax officials have confirmed an error was made in calculating taxes on natural gas produced by wells in several counties that had gone into production in 2021.
It's been the state's practice to estimate annual production for each well on the gas it produced on its first day of operation.
It's been estimated that more than $30 million in taxes should have been collected for active gas wells in Brooke, Doddridge, Harrison, Marshall, Monongalia, Pleasants, Tyler and Wetzel counties.
The commission's letter states, "Even more appalling is the fact the state tax department was made aware of this issue in March of 2023, prior the time that 2023 real property tax statements were distributed to the taxpayers, but failed to alert the affected counties until September of 2023."
It continues, "This error is not simply a bureaucratic oversight; it represents a severe failure on the part of the state tax department to fulfill its duty to accurately assess mineral interests across the state.
"The consequences of this oversight are far-reaching, jeopardizing vital public services and infrastructure projects that rely on stable and predictable tax revenue streams. Furthermore, it undermines the trust and confidence that taxpayers place in their government to responsibly manage public finances."
"The taxpayers of West Virginia deserve better. They deserve transparency, accountability and a tax system they can count on to accurately reflect their property tax liability. The magnitude of this error is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to happen again.
The commissioners urged Justice and other state officials to call for a thorough investigation into the error and a clear plan to prevent similar errors from occurring.
The commissioners said earlier they had not budgeted for the lost revenue because they didn't know how much the county would receive, so it didn't immediately impact the county's operations.
But Wise said of $4.96 million that would have been collected by the state, $2.96 million would have gone to the Brooke County school district, $495,000 would have gone into the county's general fund while $91,000, $106,000 and $196,000 would have been collected through levies supporting local fire departments, the county's animal shelter and its ambulance service and related services, respectively.
In recent weeks, the commissioners and county commissioners of the other affected counties were given the choice of accepting or rejecting the state's erroneous assessments.
Thomas and Diserio moved not to seek back taxes from the natural gas producers or affected property owners, citing concerns the county could be sued by them and the money may have been spent.
Wise cast a dissenting vote, supporting an attempt to collect the taxes, as four other counties have pledged to do.
The commissioners of the remaining counties also have chosen not to pursue the taxes.
In other business, Ben Erste, community development specialist for the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, advised Thrasher Engineering is preparing bid specifications for slip repairs to the Brooke County Pioneer Trail.
The commissioners noted the work is to be done through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency secured a few years ago by Bob Fowler, former director of the Brooke County Emergency Management Agency.
Following the meeting, Erste said the grant is expected to cover a large portion of the estimated $2.3 million project, with the remainder to be paid with other state funds.
He said the project is expected to involve the installation of steel support beams to secure an area of the hill along the trail.
Wise said the work had been delayed because the trail was closed so it could be used by crews building the new Ohio River bridge.
Upon hearing the slip work is expected to be done this summer, Diserio commented, "There are a lot of people anxious to get back on that trail."
Diserio also lamented the death Saturday of 27-year-old Shayna Baker, a volunteer firefighter who had been studying to be a paramedic through West Virginia Northern Community College while working for Murrysville Medic One, an ambulance and rescue service in Pennsylvania.
"She was following her dream and was good at it," he said.
Baker, who died in a single-vehicle crash in the Colliers area, had been employed by the Brooke County and Hancock County ambulance services and served as a volunteer firefighter for the Franklin Community and Oakland fire departments.
A 2015 graduate of Brooke High School, she was a lover of horses, with two of her own.
Mullenbach Funeral Home has announced visitation for Baker will be at noon Saturday, with a service celebrating her life to follow at 1 p.m.
Donations, to assist with her funeral expenses, are being accepted.