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By Bob Weaver
Cash strapped Wirt County is struggling to exist. After a week of
political and media
attention, it is unclear whether there is enough will to save it. A
Charleston Daily Mail
editorial said "Wirt County, the state's smallest, was never much of
anything....it's
already dead on the vine." They suggest consolidation.
The county courthouse hasn't had janitorial service and the Sheriff's
only deputy is
expected to loose his job. Wirt's less than $700,000 budget cannot
fund constitutional
services. The paying of a regional jail bill commencing this year and
losing moneys
generated by the Wirt jail is "the final straw."
Several other rural counties with low tax bases, including Calhoun,
are struggling
from year to year to provide cash for their budgets.
"I am grieving over this," said Commission President Lention Offutt,
who with a dozen
other Wirt officials met with Gov. Bob Wise on Thursday. Offutt said
the State of West
Virginia will either give us some relief or help us to consolidate.
"Gov. Wise was
cautious in presenting a plan because it would set a precedent for
other counties in
trouble," he said. "Gov. Wise was certainly connected to the issues
and ideas."
Coffee drinkers at Mike's Place in Elizabeth seem to think government
will come along
and save the county. Others say something should have been done to
prevent the
problem, but Offutt wonders what that could have been rather than the
population
increasing and business and industry locating in the county. Governor
Cecil
Underwood infused some cash last year, but Offutt says those kind of
measures will
probably end after this year.
Wirt is mostly a bedroom community to Parkersburg, and most residents
seem
indifferent to the outcome. Two efforts to pass a county operating
levy failed last year
were defeated by two-thirds of the voters.
Commission President Offutt and his delegation presented several
specific proposals
to fill the gap for a projected $110,000 shortfall. He says many
unfunded mandates
like the regional jail and the Managed Timberland Bill are taking
heavy tolls on poor
rural counties.
Sen. Donna Boley said giving each county $150,000 from lottery funds
is an idea. She
said it wouldn't mean much to moneyed counties, but it would help keep
rural
counties in tact. She is also promoting legislation for incentives to
get businesses to
locate in the ten counties with the highest unemployment.
Sen. John Mitchell, D-Kanawha is forming legislation for county
consolidation. Offutt
says it is likely Wirt would end in merging with Wood. Taxes would
likely raise,
possibly higher than those proposed in the failed operating levy.
While the county
might benefit from consolidating with other smaller counties,
particularly with
political representation, there are long-time ties to Wood.
Offutt says he is taking the situation very seriously as an elected
official. "We are at
the crossroad," he concluded. (SEE Charleston Gazette and Charleston
Daily Mail
editorials on The Herald today)
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