MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The president of the Monongalia County Commission has issued a call for action on road improvements.
Tom Bloom, a guest on WAJR’s Morgantown AM, shared a 4 page proposal on raising revenue for road projects. Bloom’s proposal is not a commission approved plan. He will present it at Wednesday’s commission meeting as a “starting point for the legislators”.
His priority, said Bloom, is to come up with road management ideas to take to Charleston as opposed to solutions being developed after the 2016 legislative session begins.
“You need to plan things out. What I’m doing now, is I’m going to come out with a plan so something can be discussed so we can have some options when we go back to the legislature and it’s been discussed by the community,” Bloom said.
According to a Blue Ribbon Commission report released in May, it will take $1.1 billion a year to adequately address maintenance and expansion of West Virginia’s highway system.
The report touched on ideas Bloom wanted to expand upon. His proposal is implement a 3 year surcharge or tax on items like cigarettes, beer, wine and liquor.
The so-called sin tax would range from 10 to 25 cents per item, whether it’s a six pack of beer, glass of wine at a restaurant, or even vapor cigarettes.
“All money would stay and be put in a line item in the county, so we will control the funds but work with DOH making sure these roads are repaired,” Bloom explained.
To raise revenue locally and use it for local road improvements, Monongalia County representatives would have to seek home rule authority from the state.
Bloom’s plan, partially based on ideas proposed in the Blue Ribbon Commission report, is to utilize public and private partnerships for the actual work on local roads.
“You would hire private companies to do culvert cleaning and ditch cleaning, do pothole fixing during all 12 months and maintain the right of way clear vegetation overgrowth. How these companies would be selected, we’d have a sealed bid process,” Bloom proposed.
The “sin tax” proposed is a measure the legislature could consider as a pilot project for Monongalia County, according to Bloom.
After a 3-year pilot program for Monongalia County, Bloom said he’d hope legislators would open the local control option to other counties in the state.