Wood County Commissioners say valuation increase proposal ‘dead’
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PARKERSBURG - Wood County Commissioners said they will not approve a proposed 5% increase in property valuations to help make up for a budget shortfall discovered by the county assessor's office.
"The proposed 5% increase in valuations is dead,” Commission President Blair Couch said during Thursday’s meeting.
Earlier this week, Assessor John Kelly appeared before the commission to discuss a projected $357,000 shortfall by the end of the current fiscal year in the office's valuation fund, under which the Real Estate Division operates. Kelly, who came into the office in January 2025, discovered the office overspent its budget in 2022-23, 23-24 and 24-25, although he said paperwork showed a cash carryover of $400,000 when he put his budget together for the current fiscal year.
Kelly had previously said they were looking at ways to cut expenses in their office and move job responsibilities around. He also presented the possibility of increasing property assessments countywide by 5%, which would bring in more revenue. He said state code requires property appraisals to be between 90 and 110% of the fair market value of properties throughout the county.
The county has tried to maintain those at around 90% of fair market value for most properties. If they would raise it 5%, it still would leave them on the low end of the spectrum, Kelly said.
That adjustment would increase the revenue in the assessor’s office by $60,000 to $100,000 per year. Because of the tax money being split between the county and Wood County Schools, it is estimated the county would receive around an additional $1 million and the school board would receive around an additional $2 million. If it is approved, it could be implemented by next year, officials said.
Kelly said new houses are not being built in the area and traditionally a lot of new tax revenue came in from property taxes on new homes. He reiterated that increasing the rate was not his preferred solution, but presented it as an option for the commission to consider and talk over.
"We have to look at every option we have to fix this problem, the good options, the bad options, whatever,” Kelly said. "This was an option I put on the table. I didn't say we were going to do it. I didn't say we weren't going to do it. It is an option we can discuss. It is one of a number of options."
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said he was "offended" by the proposal. Although home construction is down, there have been a number of businesses being built over the past few years and many of those are generating tax revenue, he said.
"(Of the proposed 5% increase) in my opinion, that is a `Charleston approach,' and that is why we have the jail bill we have right now, because someone somewhere said `This is what you are going to pay,'" he said. "(Lawmakers in Charleston) don't care what they pass as long as they find someone else to pay for it.
"We are not going to do that. We are not going to charge the residents in our community to cover a mistake that was made. It is not fair to the people."
Colombo said he wants the state tax department to come in and review the entire assessor's office operations.
"It has to be done," he said.
"I welcome that,” Kelly responded.
The office is considering other options to cover the shortfall, he said.
On Monday, officials said some of the costs they were looking at were personnel and insurance. Kelly did not want to specifically discuss personnel in open session because he did not want to directly identify anyone. Even if they talked about it in terms of job titles, that would lead to certain people being indirectly identified.
There are 20 people employed in the assessor's office.
"John does not have a lot of ways to cut expenses," Commission President Blair Couch said.
Couch is contacting West Virginia Department of Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson and West Virginia Tax Commissioner Matthew Irby to see if there are other options they can look at.
"We will have help," he said.
Kelly said the last thing he wants to do is increase taxes on people. The 5% proposal would have been the easiest to do, he added.
"It might be the easiest way, but it is not the best way," he said. Addressing Colombo), he said, “We both want to fix this problem. I want to fix it as bad as you do."
Colombo said he welcomes the state officials coming in to look over everything. They will be looking at it with fresh eyes and might see something that local officials don’t, he added.
Colombo said he did appreciate Kelly's efforts to address it.
"We are going to get to the bottom of it," Couch said. "The proposed 5% increase in valuations is dead."
Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com