WELLSBURG — A public hearing will be held on Wednesday on the city’s application for participation in West Virginia’s Home Rule program, which would allow it to assess a 1 percent sales tax and issue immediate citations for public nuisances.

It also would change the manner in which the city can sell property acquired through non-payment of taxes.

The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. prior to Wellsburg Council’s regular meeting at 7 p.m., at which council is slated to consider the second and final reading for the application.

To be held at City Hall, the meeting was moved from its usual date because City Hall is closed on Tuesday for Veterans Day.

The application can be viewed at City Hall during its regular hours.

Established in 2007, the Home Rule program allows selected municipalities the ability to adopt ordinances and regulations that may veer from state code to address issues ranging from dilapidated structures to business regulations.

A board comprised of the governor or designee, executive director of the West Virginia Development Office or designee and state Senate-approved representatives of the state’s Business and Industry Council, the state’s largest labor organization and the state’s chapter of the American Institute of Certified Planners, determines a municipality’s inclusion.

If approved by the board, the sales tax could be implemented on July 1.

Citing a shortfall in revenue needed to maintain streets and other facilities, Wellsburg officials are eyeing a 1 percent sales tax for goods and services obtained in the city, with some exceptions, that would be possible through the program.

The application states, “The proposed 1 percent sales and use tax would apply to sales of tangible personal property, custom software, as well as the furnishing of taxable services when the transaction is sourced to the city of Wellsburg and the transaction is subject to state sales and use taxes.”

The tax is expected to generate about $172,000 per year for the city and offset a loss in revenue from the closing of some local industries.

Prepared by City Solicitor Ryan Weld, the application states the city is “severely underfunded when it comes to making necessary infrastructure repairs and replacements.”

The application states the sales tax won’t amount to a major windfall for the city but would help to make it more attractive to new businesses.

To be approved for the sales tax, a city must reduce its business and occupation tax, which currently generates $785,000 for the city.

To comply, the B&O tax would be eliminated for the production of coal, sand, gravel, oil, slag, natural gas, limestone and sandstone and amusements and a $1,000 per year credit against B&O tax would be established for restaurants and other businesses that sell prepared foods.

That doesn’t include uncooked grocery items or bakery products, as prohibited under West Virginia Code 11-15B-2.

The B&O tax also would be reduced for rent and royalties, from 0.55 percent to 0.25 percent, making that tax rate one-fourth of the maximum rate allowed by the state.

The sales tax also wouldn’t apply to motor fuel, motor vehicles or satellite television services.

Collection of the tax would fall to the state tax commissioner.

If accepted into the Home Rule program, the city could authorize “on the spot” citations for violations of public nuisance ordinances, such as high weeds or grass and the exterior accumulation of garbage on private property, a recurring complaint to council in recent years.

The citations could be issued by a code enforcement officer to property owners or managers or their occupants.

The applications notes municipalities currently are required to sell property acquired because of delinquent taxes “for fair and adequate consideration” through a public auction.

Through the Home Rule program, such property could be sold or leased for less than its fair market value to a private entity attempting to develop a business or a nonprofit organization providing a service to the public.