KINGWOOD — The Preston County Commission agreed to pay $2,395.73, or half of the property taxes owed on 14 vehicles the county leases from Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
That’s contingent on Enterprise, which asked the county commission to pay the $4791.46 in property taxes owed, accepting the deal. Additionally, Enterprise is waiving $71 in late fees.
“Well, team, personally, I think that that’s something we can do,” said Casey Ortega, client strategy manager and Enterprise’s representative at the meeting Tuesday. “I’ll have to talk with our finance director to get the official blessing. But if you feel that’s fair, I feel that’s fair, we’ll meet in the middle.”
Last year, Enterprise covered the personal property taxes for about $7,000, Ortega said. She said Enterprise has a long-term solution – it is lobbying for a bill which will prevent property tax from being passed onto government entities. If the county bought the vehicles outright as a government entity, it would pay property tax on those vehicles.
“In the state of West Virginia, when you lease a vehicle, regardless of who you are, when you lease a vehicle, you’re responsible for property tax,” Ortega told The Dominion Post. “So, it’s kind of a bill that’s unique to West Virginia, because for our other clients, that’s not a tax that’s applicable to them.”
She said other government entities such as the City of Morgantown also pay the property taxes on leased vehicles and will all be affected by the legislation once it passes. The bill made it to the floor last year however was not passed before the session ended ,despite being well received.
Commission President Don Smith said the bill was something to bring up at a dinner between the commission and legislators Thursday evening. He asked Ortega to let him know the bill number as soon as possible, so they could support it through the County Commissioner’s Association.
There was also discussion about whether leasing more vehicles for Preston County, particularly sheriff’s vehicles — which get used hard on the county’s roads — was the right choice for the county.
Ortega said that by rolling equity from non-sheriff’s vehicles, which tend to sell for more, the county can help offset the cost. In the four years of partnership, the average age of the county’s fleet has gone from 2011 to 2017 and is now at the point where vehicles should be strategically replaced.
Preston County Office of Emergency Management/E-911 Director Duane Hamilton said one problem he had with leasing vehicles was the county ended up upside down on a sheriff’s vehicle that was struck and totaled by a side-by-side.
“This equity is month 60,” Ortega said. “That vehicle that was totaled was a sheriff’s vehicle. So just those sheriffs’ vehicles in nature, they’re not the same as a regular vehicle.”
Commissioner Samantha Stone suggested that maybe leasing sheriff’s vehicle’s wasn’t the right move.
As the tax was the main problem of the day, Commissioner Dave Price asked for a work session with Enterprise to be scheduled to fully go over the relationship between the company and the county.
Mace said that discussion would happen during budget discussions early in 2022.
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