MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University will contribute to Monongalia County coffers in a new way.
An agreement announced Thursday has been described as unprecedented.
“I think the uniqueness is, one, we’ve never done it before. Two, it’s sort of a master agreement to really take care of commercial settings into the future if we would buy and there would be something that’s not really part of the academic mission,” explained Rob Alsop, WVU vice president for legal, government and entrepreneurial engagement.
“No other county and state institution has entered any sort of agreement that I’ve ever heard of,” said County Commission President Eldon Callen, active with the West Virginia Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties.
Commercial establishments operating on tax-exempt university property will begin to see an increased cost in the lease agreements with WVU. The amount will be turned over to the county.
“Like the Applebee’s, we own that building and rent to them. For each of those, instead of those companies needing to go one by one to the commission, we’re going to have a master agreement where we’re going to take care of that,” added Alsop.
According to Callen, the 50-year agreement doesn’t reinvent the wheel on how fees are determined.
“It’s about what is the process, what is the procedure that is going to be equitable and fair whether you’re an Applebee’s, Steptoe and Johnson, or you’re some new entity that may enter into some sort of arrangement to occupy part of West Virginia University’s property.”
The Monongalia County tax assessor will survey the square footage used for commercial purposes and, like with any other private property owner, set the payment at 60% of the appraised amount for the space.
“It’s equitable in that we use the existing process that has been guaranteed by the legislature to give fair and just results for the taxpayer like it will be with WVU,” said Callen.
An estimated $175,000 could be collected annually from businesses in the Suncrest Center on Van Voorhis Road (includes Applebee’s), Evansdale Crossing, the new cafeteria at the Health Sciences Center and the University Place Parking Garage on University Avenue.
The county will disperse the voluntary amount collected from WVU just the same as taxpayer money would be dispersed.
“We need to do our academic mission and keep our tuition low and be efficient. But, we’re also, when we have that commercial space, contributing to the school board and everything the county commission does and there’s a portion of this that will go to the state of West Virginia under the way the education funding formula works,” Alsop explained.
Such an agreement has been discussed among university and county leaders for several years. In the last 18 months, discussions resulted in Thursday’s action.