Moundsville City Council Lays Foundation for Land Bank
Emma Delk Trending
Moundsville City Council members unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to establish a municipal land reuse agency in the city and provide for membership, power duties and other provisions to accomplish the agency's purpose during a Tuesday meeting.
The Moundsville Land Reuse Agency, also known as a land bank, will acquire dilapidated properties in the city to temporarily hold and care for them until they can be transferred to new, responsible owners.
According to West Virginia code §31-21-11, state and local governments are authorized to create a land bank program to assist economic development by accepting formerly used or developable properties and "preparing the properties so they can be conveyed to other parties to locate or expand businesses and create or retain jobs in this state."
Under the program, the city is authorized to acquire properties, hold titles and prepare them for future use. Prior to acquiring any properties, the county is required to conduct "site-appropriate assessments" to determine the "environmental conditions or issues" of the property.
If the council approves the Land Reuse Agency Ordinance following its second reading, seven members will be appointed to the Land Reuse Agency Board. During their first meeting, board members will adopt bylaws and file state paperwork required for the agency.
City Manager Rick Healy said the board will operate independent of the city to purchase, rehabilitate and sell properties in the city.
"This is a big step and the next logical step for Moundsville," Healy said. "We have a very good department with demolition and abandoned and dilapidated housing as well as our rental registration program. The land bank will allow the city to establish a board that can rehabilitate properties the city cannot rehabilitate on its own, so it's a huge advancement."
Building Inspectors Administrative Tech Danielle Harmon has been appointed Development Director of the agency by council. Harmon said during a Tuesday, March 11, Policy Subcommittee meeting that the land bank would allow citizens and the city to obtain vacant, dilapidated and abandoned properties and make them valuable property to the city again.
Moundsville City Council members also unanimously approved Healy to send an email to State Sen. Chris Rose voicing their opposition to a West Virginia Senate bill that increases the amount of annual revenue for businesses to be exempt from paying the Business & Occupation Tax.
Senate Bill 933 would exempt any business with an annual revenue under $25,000 from payment of any B&O tax. The bill would also exempt any business with an annual revenue under $25,000 or any sole proprietor or independent contractor who does not maintain a permanent physical location in a city from having to obtain a municipal business license.
Healy stated that the bill's "worst part" was its B&O tax exemption.
A significant contributor to the city's proposed 2025-26 General Fund Budget of approximately $19.3 million was $2.7 million from the B&O Tax. Healy said he and city staff could not calculate the potential revenue losses for the city if the bill became a law due to the difficulty of tracking businesses in the city that make under $25,000 in annual revenue.
"The loss of any amount of B&O [taxes] … is devastating," Healy said. "B&O Tax pays all of our bills, pays our salaries, allows us to pay benefits and covers our basic, essential needs. If we were to start losing that, then we have to start eliminating things."
So unless the Legislature is willing to provide a backfill for that loss, which there's been no discussion of that, we're totally against any additional cuts to the B&O Tax," Healy continued.
Senate Bill 933 had its third reading on Wednesday. The status of whether the Bill passed in the senate is not known as of press time for this edition.