CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Commission is expressing concern over the loss of public safety funding and additional hits in the future.
The commission stating this week it will lose $1.3 million in funding for the body and its Public Safety Levy after West Virginia Board of Public Works approved reduced property values and tax rates for the state’s major utilities.
“The losses have occurred primarily due to unprecedented tax reductions for large utility and industrial companies,” a statement from the commission read.
The commission also expressed serious reservation with Property Tax Modernization Amendment and its potential to “defund public safety and first responders.” HJR 3, Property Tax Modernization Amendment, will be on 2022 General Election ballots as a constitutional amendment to be approved by the public. The resolution could allow lawmakers to lower personal property taxes, including on vehicles.
Commissioner Lance Wheeler told 580-WCHS he is concerned with what the state legislature is doing. The commission wrote a letter to the Kanawha County senators and delegates on Monday.
“They are looking at county budgets and cutting them over 25 percent. Of those budgets is public safety. Kanawha County deputies, our Kanawha County ambulance workers. These are individuals we are staffing to make sure we can protect the citizens of Kanawha County,” Wheeler said.
“Without that money, we cannot do that.”
Kanawha County Commission Raised Concerns Over Loss of Public Safety Funding pic.twitter.com/A5HyHagQ59
— Kanawha County (@kanawhaus) January 31, 2022
Commission President W. Kent Carper stated, “As Kanawha County continues to respond to the most difficult health crisis in a century – with local resources stressed to the hilt –essential public safety funding is being stripped away.
“And these multi-million-dollar losses do not include Constitutional Amendment One (HJR3), which will be on the November Ballot and could further defund public safety through the elimination of more than $60 million, or nearly 1/3, of the constitutionally protected funding that supports law enforcement, fire service, public schools, and local governments in Kanawha County. To date, there is still no plan to inform citizens on what Amendment One will really do if it passes this November.”
Commissioner Ben Salango noted, “Before the Property Tax Modernization Amendment is voted on in November, the Legislature must identify a guaranteed funding source for our first responders and other essential functions of local government. Local governments need financial predictability so we can write and pass a responsible budget.”
Like Salango, Wheeler said on Tuesday there must be a guaranteed funding source identified. He is hoping to address the concerns in a public forum with lawmakers.
“There’s possible the sales tax. There are other ways we can reform the tax code that way it is fair for everybody. Just cutting off your nose to spite your face is not the correct direction for prosperity in West Virginia,” Wheeler said.