The 1% B&O Tax, an undelivered $50,000 grant from the USDA, and an officer promotion were considered by the Alderson Town Council during their regular meeting on Thursday, June 10.
In April, the Alderson Town Council passed a 1% business and inventory tax (B&O) on gross revenue for businesses in town. Before its passage, Mayor Travis Copenhaver explained the town had a $37,000 hole in the budget due to legislative changes, such as the town not being able to suspend driver’s licenses for unpaid fines and costs.
“Our B&O tax is in effect. This is not new, this is an amendment,” explained Copenhaver. “The B&O tax is 1% for any contractor that does work in Alderson. It is one percent for any wholesaler that brings business into Alderson to our store. … I have had no less than 25 discussions with other places trying to figure out the best thing to do. Let me say right now – I understand that any tax is a bad tax. … So we don’t want to lose any business. But I will tell you all, I can’t raise prices. I can’t do anything without the process that we’re going through now. We will start, and I have the budget before us that we adopted, [and] without some revenue enhancement, we are $37,000 in the hole effective July 1. We were banking on either the B&O tax or some other means of revenue. As I’ve explained multiple times, in multiple public meetings, it is no secret, between losing $37,000, which makes up 10% of the general fund, … plus the other revenue that’s lost, we have to make it up somehow.”
In May, the council agreed to reconsider the tax after speaking with more business owners. Since then, more cost-cutting measures have been put in place.
“Each staff member gets a 5% contribution to their retirement every pay period — staff will not get those until we’re out of this budget,” Copenhaver said. “There is no overtime. Chief Byer has changed the schedule so there are no overlapping coverage. If you see two officers out together, one of them may or may not be volunteering cause I can assure you they’re not being paid. Vehicles are parked, people are riding together if they can. There is no spending for anything. We also implemented, two months ago, our own bulk purchase for fuel for city vehicles. That should save us about $8,000. … If it’s not a necessity, it is not replaced and it is not purchased. … If we eliminate staff, if we eliminate one police officer, that takes 40 hours out of the week that there’s no extra coverage.”
The B&O Tax was opposed by several employees and owners of brick and mortar businesses in town, who spoke up to town representatives both in and outside of council meetings.
“I talked to a business owner today, in town, who said that since COVID that their business has been down about 25%,” Copenhaver said. “… I tell you, based on the conversations that I’ve had with respectable business owners who understand where we are and have given full disclosure. I know how tight it is. I know … a service we can’t stand to lose that is tight, in the red tight, and don’t know what’s going to happen to keep them going.”
“We’ve been open for 36 months at the Corner Store across the bridge,” explained Bobby Ortman in the last council meeting. “Between COVID and being sick, I’ve been closed for 20 months. I haven’t turned a profit in three years. When I spend $1,000, I have to make $3,000 back. … When you’re talking gross, that’s actually 3%. … I can’t afford three or four percent. …If it’s not on gross, it would be easier to swallow, but if there’s a tiered way to do it, [it would help]. It wouldn’t be easy, none of this is easy.”
“The problem is, right now, [that] it’s been the worst year ever,” said Sarah Alderson in a previous meeting. “It just seems like the timing is bad and there are people on the edge waiting, and maybe not opening again. It may seem like a straw but it’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. “
The B&O tax is expected to be reconsidered when the town could enact a 1%, across the board, sales tax but first, it must be enrolled in the Homerule program. This would include every online sale that is conducted electronically from, within, or to the municipality, such as Amazon sales. However, the B&O tax has been mostly left in place in order to fund the Homerule application process.
“In order to apply for Homerule, the application is $2,000,” Copenhaver said. “Now I can tell you now, based on where we are with the budget, we will be hard-pressed to pay for the application fee. It also takes an attorney, not our city attorney, who’s well versed in the process to file the application. … It will take four to six months to get through the procedures … to meet deadline.”
After ample debate, a bargain was struck — the month of July will be an amnesty month for new businesses affected by the B&O tax and no tax will be collected for that month. Then, for August and September, the B&O tax will be due in October. At that time, the B&O tax will be revised to determine how far along the Homerule application is.
Council approved the motion with four to one vote – Councilmember Charlie Lobban voted against the measure, similar to his past nay votes for all B&O tax measures.
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In October 2020, Alderson was awarded a $50,000 Community Facilities Grant in order to purchase two new all-wheel-drive police vehicles. However, the town is now looking to front these funds in order to pay Greenbrier Motors because the funds have not yet arrived.
“For the last two months, we have been working feverishly with the USDA to try to figure out where our funds from our grant are for the two police vehicles,” Copenhaver said. “I will say now, with the new administration in Washington, there have been added hoops to jump through that have held up our funds. We, today, asked all of our elected delegations, Senators Manchin and Capito, to try to figure out where the funds are. Margaret [Hambrick] has dotted every i, crossed every t. In the past, when we got the letter of award, the funds were in the bank within two weeks.”
Copenhaver explained the town made the purchase shortly after receiving the letter of award back in October 2020.
“Two months ago we got the letter of award, and they’re still not here,” Copenhaver said. “Greenbrier Motors has every right to be upset with us, because it’s on their floor stock and we haven’t been able to purchase those vehicles. We have to back up and front [these funds] if the USDA is going to hold our funds much longer because we have to pay Greenbrier Motors. I’m embarrassed because we would not have made the purchase [if the letter had not come]. The gentleman we deal with for this grant has gone above and beyond, it’s just over his head. … This is not a state-level issue, this is a national-level issue.”
Copenhaver was approved to get a five-year lease for the vehicles until the funds arrive if the town’s elected representatives are not able to locate the USDA funds.
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The Alderson Police Department saw a promotion approved by Town Council. Chief J.R. Byers explained “I want to promote Patrolman Jack Meadows to Sergeant. It’s based on the last year and his experience and his help to the department. … He’s been acting Chief of Police on a couple of different occasions. … He brought a ton of experience to the department, a ton of experience to the other officers.” Copenhaver noted his support for the promotion if it did not come with a pay raise, due to the other financial issues discussed during the meeting. The promotion was unanimously approved by the council.
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