by Ron Gregory
ronjgregory@gmail.com
Boone County may be the poster child for what happens when tax revenues fall dramatically. While the same is occurring all across the ill-conceived “state” of West Virginia, Boone is a remarkable exaple of just how far one can fall in a hurry.
At one time the best example in West Virginia of a county with excess revenue, Boone has seen coal mines dwindle to nothing. Thus, the same thing has happened with coal severance tax revenues. From $5 million a year for the county commissiion to less than a million, the severance tax drop is devastating. That’s a decrease even the most conservative jurisdiction would have trouble handling.
We can debate for endless hours whether local government should have been “better prepared” for coal’s decline. The fact is Boone County is where it is today financially and nobody can change the facts. There is far less revenue in Boone than there are genuine public needs.
The old political adage is to never give the public a program or benefit that will ever be cut. While a crystal ball MIGHT have told Boone officials what was about to happen, it would have been difficult to project the way the bottom has fallen out of the coal market.
Thus, the county commission faces budget cuts that include eliminating the trash transfer stations and deputies at some of the area schools. The school board must choose between keeping teacher salaries near the top in the state or maintaining its current level of schools, already cut by three elementaries.
Faced with facts, one should concede that the transfer stations were a luxury for Boone Countians. No other county in the state offered the level of service provided by Boone without charging for it. It was a courtesy that perhaps should never have been provided. Added to the fact that such services should never be offered if they are later to be cut out, early operations apparently included a user fee. That fee was either never enforced or quickly done away with. How county commissioners over the years figured they could sustain that level of service without charging is difficult to figure out.
As for the deputies, the cavalier manner in which the positions were eliminated has bothered many. At least one of the deputies has secured legal counsel and I have serious doubts elimination of the jobs will be sustained. Safetly re-elected, it appears Sheriff Randall White figured an easy way to cut his budget was to just do away with the two jobs where deputies largely worked with local schools.
Again, was the provision of these deputies a luxury Boone County never could have afforded to maintain? Likely. I, in fact, questioned the provision of such officers when it first began. It is my recollection that some federal grant money helped with salaries, but that is a program that eventually runs out. After that, I noted, Boone was stuck with the burden of salaries it might not be able to justify.
The facts are that the deputies provided valuable services and were well-received in the school communities. It is too bad if finances mean their jobs must go. I still suspect the civil service commission and courts will not uphold those terminations but we will see I suspect.
As most thinking people know, the problem with cuts in government budgets is that they often eliminate people and programs that are good while allowing failures to continue. By applying across-the-board cuts, governmental units often fail to recognize what the long-term effect on their constituents may be.
It is my guess that most Boone County residents would rather maintain the two deputy positions than many other employees and programs they continue to pay for.
Nevertheless, both the county commission and board of education are in difficult, tight spots. When money was flowing like biblical milk and honey, all was well. Now that the mines are closed, tough decisions must be made on a daily basis. Both groups, I believe, are doing the best the can with a difficult situation.
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Speaking of coal, there are those within Democrat party ranks who somehow believe Hillary Clinton can carry West Virginia in a November match-up with Donald Trump. Any chance of that happening was eliminated when Clinton made her now infamous closing down coal mines and mine jobs speech. There is no way Mountain State voters are going to support a candidate, Democrat or Republican, who has vowed to close coal mines.
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As I have been pointing out for years and referred to here earlier, there never has been a reasonable basis to believe West Virginia should exist economically. If there had been, the original colonies would have included the western section of Virginia as a separate state.
When the despot Abraham Lincoln sent federal troops into the western territory to force those counties to “secede” from Virginia under threat of arms, it was a horrible economic decision. Take a look at the current Southwest Virginia region and compare it to West Virginia. Filled money coffers in Northern Virginia and elsewhere benefit places like Grundy, Norton and Abingdon. In West Virginia, there is no economic oasis to take care of the rest of the state.
We need to beg the Mother commonwealth to take us back.
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On the subject of Boone County, it appears that some elected officials who appeared unchallenged in November may not be so safe. As many as two possible “independent” campaigns are being contemplated for circuit clerk, where Democrat incumbent Sue Ann Zickefoose appeared to be the lone candidate.
Linda Browning is said to be gathering signatures for an independent run and another candidate has been rumored.
Suffice it to say, Zickefoose would still be the odds-on favorite regardless of her opposition. If two candidates manage to get enough signatures to appear as independent candidates, she will be a certain winner. The pair will divide up any opposition vote, assuring Zickefoose of the win.
My guess is that nobody can beat the incumbent, but at least Browning may give it a try.
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Meanwhile, in Kanawha County, former State Senator Erik Wells supporters are gathering signatures for him to make a run for county clerk. There, Republican incumbent Vera McCormick had been without opposition in November.
One high-ranking state official told me last week that Wells had been asked to run by “hundreds of people who are unhappy with the fact that Vera messed up the delegate districts and has no plan to fix it.”
While that is likely an oversimplification of the facts, I mentioned last week that the fact that some voters in Kanawha have been voting in the wrong state delegate district since 2012 is a real problem. At that time, I said nobody specifically should take the blame and I still guess that is true. At least for the original mess-up.
I was at the legislature when redistricting occurred and watched delegates, senators and others swamp the map room trying to figure the best redistricting they could do for their own political purposes. Lines were drawn and redrawn, likely wearing the mapping expert, Jo Vaughan, to complete distraction.
Some have placed blame on Vaughan, who has since left state government, for the Kanawha mix-up. I doubt she should receive the bulk of complaints. Nor do I think McCormick can be blamed for the initial errors. It is, however, difficult to understand how the mistakes were perpetuated for 2014 and subsequent elections without someone seeing them.
Wells, of course, is the husband of Democrat Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, who is facing a difficult challenge from Republican Mac Warner in November. All of which makes for good politics.
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While also facing a tough challenge in November, it is clear Republican State Senator Chris Walters has worked very hard in the clean-up following the massive flooding up Elk River two weeks ago. Walters quickly volunteered to help with the work and was seen almost daily doing his part to help those in need.
Some criticize elected officials for helping out, claiming it is “political grandstanding” but that comment is much too cynical. Most elected officials genuinely care about people or they wouldn’t be in the business. I believe Walters is one of the good guys.
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And, on that subject, nobody could have been more of a good neighbor that Democrat gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice, who threw open the doors of his resort at The Greenbrier for those in need. Again, some have said Justice did it “just for votes.” I don’t believe that. And I also don’t believe for a moment that Justice “had” to do what he did.
He has also provided funding and other contributions to schools and other public facilities ruined in the flooding. That is simply an indication of a good man who wants to help others. I salute Justice for his assistance in this time of need.
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Your comments, story ideas, gossip and ideas for cutting services in Boone County are always welcome. Use my email listed or call my cell, 304-533-5185.