By Stephen Smoot
In the past few years, the State of West Virginia and local governments have created more tools for a half-century old cause. This started with the 70’s era program started by Governor Arch Moore and administered by A. James Manchin, the Rehabilitational Environmental Action Plan.
More recently, the State Auditor’s office under J. B. McCluskey, supported by the State Legislature, and complemented by efforts from the West Virginia Housing Development Fund, have targeted dilapidated, abandoned, and otherwise unsafe properties and residences.
In some cases, rapid depopulation between the 1970s and the end of the 20th century left surplus housing and property stock that has gone unused and uncared for, leaving at best eyesores, at worst havens for normal, but dangerous, childhood mischief and criminal activity.
Last week, the Harrison County Commission directly addressed some of the worst problems by approving a list of properties as “emergency nuisances.” This parallels efforts by the City of Shinnston to perform similar remediations in town.
“We will never ask anyone to leave their homes. We’re not going to evict anyone.” said Patsy Trecost II, Harrison County Commissioner. “Anyone who is asking for help, we’ll work with them.”
Instead, the list targets residences that have both been abandoned and have also either fallen into obvious disrepair, or have served as dumping grounds for garbage. Trecost said that in many cases, the residences once housed families, but owners either passed away or left the area.
Other local governments, such as Piedmont in Mineral County, saw numerous such properties purchased for almost no money in tax auctions. In the past couple of years, the State Auditor and State Legislature have passed laws and regulations that put such properties in the hands of those willing to develop them.
Trecost echoed that, saying that many times the owner of an adjoining property might purchase it to either rebuild the house and use, or tear the structure down to expand his or her “green space.”
He also said that the lots offer opportunities to expand usable housing stock, because utility hookups already exist for any future construction.
Shinnston has two addresses on the list, in addition to those targeted by the City for remediation.
The commission also reviewed the issue of an erroneous tax assessment for 2021 due to a state level clerical error. Rocky Romano, Harrison County Commissioner, told WBOY that the State Tax Department failed to perform the proper annualization on oil and gas properties in a number of counties, including Harrison.
As a result, a number of Harrison County taxpayers collectively owe a little less than $276,000 for the wrong assessment.
On Feb 7, the StateTax Department sent an Application for Relief From Erroneous Assessment that it insisted “take precedence before all other business of the commission.”
The problem stemmed from misapplication of a recent change in state law. Harrison’s shortfall is miniscule compared to other counties. Tyler, for example, owes approximately $15 million and may have to cut services if it cannot fully collect.