The Lewisburg City Council took the first step towards a sales tax, passed first reading on zoning change ordinances, and more during the Tuesday, November 16, meeting.
Similar to a policy and process just finalized by the Alderson Town Council, the Lewisburg City Council will move forward toward implementing a 1 percent sales tax in the city.
A sales tax implemented by a municipality functions similarly to any other sales tax – the funds are collected directly from the customer and remitted to the state. From there, the local 1 percent tax would be returned to the municipality’s operating budget.
City Manager Misty Hill repeated a question from the Finance Committee last week, asking “had we had this in place last year, what would be the revenue that 1 percent sales tax would yield?”
“It would give us $1,891,309.97,” she answered. “That would be the revenue from last year, that would be that fiscal year … from June to July” in 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
Certain types of businesses are also not included in sales taxes, such as businesses focused on food or beauty services. Hill noted the tax would apply to “mostly retail stores.”
Hill also explained what the additional funds could do for the municipality.
“[Treasurer Susan Honaker] explained to you in the last several years that our budget has just stayed flat, we don’t really have room for growth. … We have to plan for growth. We’ve expanded several of our parks, we have expanded several sidewalks, and we keep adding to our growth. We don’t add to either employees or our budget system that can sustain those expansions.”
In addition to expanding the number of city employees, Hill pointed to a number of projects in their beginning stages:
– “Really important is our new fire station. We have purchased the property across from the movie theater to start the building of a new fire station. We had the funds to pay for the property but we need the funds to support the finance of new buildings. We do have a fire station service fee but that fee is to only go for materials and to benefit the fire department, not to build a new building. That was designated when the service fee was put into place, that it would not go to a new station, only go to support our department materials equipment.”
– “One part of this is to relocate and set Public Works down at the water plant behind that and the new area that we just purchased.”
– “Next on the list would be additional downtown parking. There are some areas that we could look at for expansion. … This would be able to utilize … the wayfinding. A lot of people don’t realize where we actually already have parking. … Council has approved for us to start [creating] wayfinding [signage to parking and other notable places in town for visitors] but we also don’t have a way … to pay for the signage that’s going to need to go downtown.”
– “Next on the list would be a pay scale revision for our police department so that we can continue to stay competitive … and then an office expansion [for the the Lewisburg Police Department] because as our city grows, our department will also grow to continue to protect and serve our citizens.”
– “Another part would be our stormwater repairs. As Mayor White had announced we received the $250,000 [Hazard Mitigation grant] but that is to make a stormwater plan. We’ve never had one, so developing that plan will also come with the ability to be able to recognize the areas that are in dire need of repairs.”
– “Continuation of our fleet replacement – right now we lease and change over our fleet for Public Works, and this will help to be able to expand that. Some of our vehicles are as old as 1993.”
– “[For City Hall], we do have a lot of records and they take up a lot of space. And once you run out of space records tend to get lost or misplaced because they’re not being kept in the appropriate areas. This would be able to have a company come in and digitalize all of those, which would be fantastic. We’ve been in dire need of [an HVAC] system – the building will be extremely hot, will be freezing, or at all. So also… a security door upgrade – the doors we have are the electronic doors that you swipe. Those are not working very well.
– “We’re looking at the sidewalks on Lafayette and Feamster going up, but there’s several other areas that do not have sidewalks on them yet.”
– “Our parks are [typically] our most underfunded, [but] this year has been a wonderful year for parks due to CARES Act reimbursement. … We need new trash cans in our parks, the football field needs a new scoreboard, we do have a boat launch down at Caldwell and being able to do some upgrades and a restroom down there would be fantastic.”
– “Our newly acquired 34 acres located on Stonehouse [Road], this budget will be able to be utilized to start the expansion and development of that.”
– “Phase two of the Dorie Miller upgrades, dog park, short pump track and a walking track are some of the things that we’re considering in that area.”
– “Chief Thomas could probably vouch for the last one, considering he is our elevator repairman that comes up at least once a week and gets the elevator back to work. So replacing that one would be a great help.”
Council agreed, approving the recommendation to the Homerule board.
Should the Homerule board approve the request, council would then have to pass a sales tax ordinance, with a first reading, then second reading and public hearing.
For more about the 1 percent sales tax process, see The West Virginia Daily News’ coverage of its passage in Alderson. Read more online under the headlines “Alderson Home Rule Approved, Sales Tax Passes First Read” and “Alderson Finalizes One Percent Sales Tax.”
In other business:
– Three first reading ordinances were passed, changing three properties from R-1, town residential zoning, to O-R, office residential zoning. . This includes 0.53 acres owned by Janey Kortas (Ordinance 296), 0.53 acres owned by Brian G. Richards (Ordinance 297), and 0.26 acres owned by Rogers Holdings LLC and James P. Wrzosek.
– Calls to the Lewisburg Fire Department for the month of September 2021 include 11 motor vehicle accidents, 54 medical calls, 10 automatic fire alarms, nine public service calls, one assist law enforcement, four dispatched and cancelled enroute, four combustible liquid spill, one extrication of victim from building, three standby calls, one landing zone, and one smoke scare.
– According to the Fire report, “We have been advised that all three of our FEMA grants have been denied for the 2020 year. This included our Assistance to Firefighter Grant, Fire Prevention and Safety Grant, and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant. We will be working with FEMA to see if anything can be done to help us with these grants and will be reapplying for the 2021 year.”
– White also declared November 16 Rural Health Day. According to the proclamation, “meeting the unique healthcare needs of those citizens is constantly evolving as rural communities face accessibility issues, a lack of health care providers, and aging population suffering from a greater number of chronic conditions and larger percentages of underinsured citizens. … Ambulatory emergency medical services are especially critical in rural America, for only 20% of the nation’s population lives, but where the majority of trauma deaths occur.”
– The council approved an insurance quote for municipalities from Zurich Municipal with a $3 excess limit and another quote from BCS Insurance Company for cyber security protections, with the total not to exceed $117,500.
– An Arts and Humanities funding request from the Greenbrier Garden Tour totaling $3,150 was approved for the marketing of the tour. Finance Chair Arron Seams noted the event “brings in visitors to the area, and is a great way to support the area.”
– The annual employee incentive and holiday luncheon were also approved by council.
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