MERCER COUNTY, W.Va. – $10 million to budget, that’s a rough estimate given to the Mercer County Commission on Tuesday by Mercer County Clerk Verlin Moye.
The amount expected could fluctuate as the total will be coming from personal property taxes paid in the county.
Mercer County Commissioner, Brian Blankenship says while that may seem like a lot of money it’s not as much as they need pay the bills and improve much needed infrastructure in the county.
“There’s so many things that we would love to do for our citizens. They just don’t understand there’s only x amount of dollars coming. When we don’t have the ability to come up with new revenue generating ideas that would benefit for water, sewer projects and things like that,” said Blankenship.
Blankenship says while it’s his first year on the commission he’s no stranger to government finances, having plenty of experience with the City of Princeton. He says the county’s budget is continuing to be stretched thinner each year with higher bills coming in.
That includes a pricier jail bill and employee insurance cost.
“We’re getting ready to absorb a 16% increase this coming summer off of a double digit increase from last year. Most likely PEIA will have future increases above the 25-26 fiscal year that we will have to deal with,” said Blankenship.
Blankenship says the county’s budget amount is likely similar to the total that both Princeton and Bluefield operate with despite being a larger area.
He says counties are crippled through state code which doesn’t allow for counties to get additional funds through something like an additional 1% sales tax which both cities have.
“We need some kind of freedom to be able to come up with additional revenue sources even if it means putting it on the ballot. At least let the people vote. That would be light years ahead of just folks out there determining nope we don’t want to give anyone that extra ability,” said Blankenship.
The county does receive funding from taxes gathered from a hotel occupancy and video lottery tax but Blankenship says those funds get put back into the county for eligible funding requests.
Blankenship says another possibility he thinks could help generate funds for counties is allowing them to charge an amusement tax for tourists visiting different paid attractions in the state.
In the meantime he says they’ll just have to make due.
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