The renewal of four existing excess levies is on the June primary ballot for voters in Monongalia County.
Passed in May 2016, the five-year levies help fund public transit, parks/trails, volunteer fire departments and public libraries.
They expire on June 30, 2021. If passed in June, the levies would be extended for four years.
The levies were initially slated to go on the general ballot in November. However, at the request of the agencies involved, they will be on the primary ballot, giving the agencies an additional six months to plan and prepare before the existing levies end.
By moving the levies from five to four years going forward, it syncs them with the normal election cycle.
The levies to be on the May ballot include:
Transit levy
If passed, rates for the levy would remain unchanged at 2.2 cents per $100 assessed value on Class II (residential) property and 4.4 cents per $100 on Class III and IV (commercial).
The levy will generate approximately $1,994,843 annually, for a four-year total of $7,979,372.
Mountain Line Director Dave Bruffy said levy funds have been used to offset funding lost from the county due to declining coal severance dollars. Additionally, vehicle purchases and service increases have been funded.
All levy-funded buses are marked with a large green checkmark.
“We increased our service by about 30% with the levy funding, in addition to preserving what we already had and were in danger of losing,” Bruffy said. “Without those levy funds, we would have never been able to increase those services or even keep the services we had.”
Parks and trails levy
If passed, the levy supporting a number of parks, trails and recreation groups would also remain unchanged from its current version, though the way the funds are divided would be different.
The levy would generate $4,207,312 over four years on rates of 1.16 cents on $100 of Class II and 2.32 cents on Class III and IV.
Annually, BOPARC would receive $257,572 for continued work improving and upgrading the Morgantown Ice Arena.
The three county parks would divide $275,000 annually for operations and expenses and $332,273 annually for capital improvement projects.
The operation and maintenance of the Mon River and Deckers Creek Rail-Trails would receive $95,397.
A new addition this time around would be the West Virginia Botanic Garden, which will get $38,158 each year for operations and development of a welcome center.
The Cheat Lake and Laurel Point soccer clubs will receive $38,158 annually, and Westover Park will get $15,270 for its baseball fields.
Volunteer fire levy
If passed, rates would actually drop in the first year of the new levy, from the current rates of .84 (II) and 1.68 (III and IV) to .76 and 1.52.
Those rates will climb slightly in years two, three and four, capping out at .41 and 1.64, which will still be lower than the existing rates.
The levy is anticipated to raise $689,129 in the first year and a four-year total of $2,865,324.
In year one, it will raise $50,000 annually for each volunteer department and the county’s hazardous incident response team, as well as $10,000 for the brush fire team and $15,000 for the Monongalia County Volunteer Fire Company Association. Those numbers increase slightly each year. For example, $50,000 becomes $51,500 in year two, and so on.
“It’s very, very important for the fire departments,” Volunteer Fire Association President Bob Brookover said of the levy funding. “The way things are nowadays and the cost of everything is making it extremely hard for volunteer departments to stay in existence.”
Library levy
If passed, rates would remain unchanged.
The levy is expected to raise about $489,644 annually, for a four-year total of $1,958,576, at rates of 0.54 cents on $100 at Class II and 1.08 cents at Class III and IV.
“It makes up about 24% of our total budget, and that’s the total system budget, so this covers general operations for the Morgantown [library], the Aull Center and all the branches — Cheat Area, Clinton District, Clay-Battelle and Arnettsville,” Library Director Sarah Palfrey said.
“If we lost that, there would be a significant reduction in locations, staffing and services.”
TWEET @DominionPostWV
