MORGANTOWN — County residents will decide the fate of the four existing excess levies — plus any additional levies to receive ballot access — when they hit the polls for the May 12, 2020 primary election, not the November 2020 general election as was previously discussed.
Additionally, any levy approved or renewed by voters in May 2020 will be a four-year levy, not five.
The Monongalia County Commission took its first action ahead of the 2020 levy vote on Wednesday, explaining that based on feedback from the four existing levy groups — Mountain Line, the volunteer fire departments, the Morgantown Public Library System and a community group representing parks/trails/recreation — voting on four-year levies during the primary makes more sense in terms of timing.
Of six levies put before voters in 2016, the four listed above received the 60% approval needed for passage. Each is a five-year levy set to expire on June 30, 2021.
Representatives of each spoke during the public comment portion of Wednesday’s meeting to ask the commission to place renewal of their respective levies before the voters in May 2020.
Mountain Line Executive Director Dave Bruffy said putting the vote in May instead of November provides an additional six-month window to prepare and budget before the existing levy ends.
“The timing of the ballot initiative is critical to allow continuity in capital and operational planning in fiscal years 2020 and 2021,” Bruffy said. “A decision by the voters in the May 2020 primary will allow the authority to properly budget for future fiscal years without an interruption in service hours and bus purchases.”
This additional time is especially critical should voters opt not to renew the funding.
“Ultimately, it’s these individuals that receive the money that had a concern and would like more time for planning purposes in case the levy would fail,” Commissioner Sean Sikora explained.
Reducing the length of the levies from five to four years puts the levies in line with the normal election cycle.
“To be clear, that’s the will of this commission for this next round,” Sikora said. “Someone could change that in the future.”
By statute, ballot language for any levies receiving access must be to the county clerk 70 days prior to the election. The commission set Feb. 12, 2020 as the cutoff date for any additional levies to request ballot access.
Sikora said that based on a recent work session, his understanding is that each of the four existing levies will be rolling over the same rates, though that won’t be finalized until the groups present the actual ballot language to the commission and the body votes to include them on the ballot.
Further, Sikora said he’s not heard of any additional levies being prepared.
“It looks, right now, like it’s just going to be the four,” he said.
The current excess levies are:
- Mountain Line — Generates approximately $1.8 million annually with rates of 2.2 cents for every $100 of Class II property (single family) — 4.4 cents for every $100 of Class III (rental outside a municipality) and IV (rental within a municipality).
- Parks/trails — Generates approximately $1 million annually with rates of 1.16 cents for every $100 of Class II property — 2.32 cents for Class III and IV.
The funds are split between BOPARC ($455,000), the three county parks ($400,000), Mon River and Deckers Creek trails ($80,000), Westover’s baseball fields ($40,000) and Cheat Lake/Laurel Point soccer ($25,000).
- Volunteer fire — Generates approximately $688,689 annually with rates of .84 cents for every $100 of Class II property — 1.68 cents for Class III and IV.
The money provides an annual payment of $50,000 to each of the county’s 12 volunteer fire departments, $50,000 for the county’s hazardous incident response team, $15,000 for the county firefighter’s association and $10,000 for the brush fire response team.
- Library system — Generates approximately $442,730 annually with rates of .54 cents for every $100 of Class II property — 1.08 cents for Class III and IV.
The money funds continued and expanded services at the various library branches across the county.
Two additional levies — one for the West Virginia Botanic Garden and youth baseball fields and another to support three county fairs — were not passed by voters in 2016.
