MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Monongalia County commissioners are for tax overhaul, but maybe not plan presented at the state legislature this year.
Commissioner Sean Sikora believes some form of tax reform would be an economic boost to the state, but we need better information from state lawmakers.
“Everybody is for it,”Sikora said,”The problem is in the end, there wasn’t a lot of detail as to how those taxes would be made up.”
“If you look at our county it would be a $10 million shortfall to county schools, but $5 million of that there was no understanding how that would be made up,”Sikora said,”There was a lot of detail that was lacking.”
Commissioner Tom Bloom says as the bill moved through language changed by Democrat Senator from Berkley County John Unger raised concerns for Mon County officials.
“Senator Unger’s comments that they changed the wording, so the the word “shall” be made whole was taken out so it was “may,”Bloom said,”So, therefore it was optional.”
President of the commission, Ed Hawkins would like transparency and input into the process.
“Let’s involve the county commissions and the boards of education because they are going to be the ones most affected,”Hawkins said,”If we’re going to make a plan, let’s make a plan that involves everybody.”