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FEATURED
Action on home rule plan some time away
HUNTINGTON -- Key components of Huntington's home rule plan are still months away from going before City Council, but progress is being made, city officials say.
Huntington was one of four cities that a state panel chose in May to participate in a five-year, home-rule pilot program. The other cities were Charleston, Wheeling and Bridgeport.
Currently, state law limits local governments on taxation and other administrative and personnel issues. Home rule creates autonomy on the local level and limits state interference.
Huntington's plan involves two main proposals: Creating a land bank to eradicate rundown housing and implementing an occupation tax. The $2-a-week user fee would be repealed and the business and occupation tax would be reduced if the new tax was implemented.
The proposals still must be approved by City Council before they take effect.
After Huntington was approved for the pilot program, team leaders were assigned to each of the proposals that make up the city's home rule plan, said Brandi Jacobs-Jones, director of administration and finance.
Those leaders formed committees, each of which already have met a few times, she said.
The occupation tax committee, spearheaded by Councilman Cal Kent, is still discussing whether the tax would be collected at the local or state level, Jacobs-Jones said. The committee also will be meeting soon with officials in Ashland and Ironton. Both cities have an occupation tax.
The Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce is planning a survey of its members about their concerns with an occupation tax, Jacobs-Jones said. The city is going to conduct a similar study for residents and people who work in the city, she said.
In the meantime, Jacobs-Jones and Mayor David Felinton have had informational meetings with representatives of St. Mary's Medical Center and Cabell Huntington Hospital and plan to do the same with other large employers in the city.
"We know the occupation tax is an extremely sensitive topic and a great deal of public input is paramount," Jacobs-Jones said. "If we want residents, employees and employers to buy into this, we know we have to be good stewards of public dollars."
City officials hope to have the occupation tax implemented by July 1, 2009, she said.
Charles Holley, the city's director of development and planning, is heading the committee to establish a land bank, which aims to reverse the effects of dilapidated housing.
Under the current county tax lien sale process, property is put up for auction if the taxes on it are delinquent for the previous year. At the sale, people bid on the tax lien, or the tax debt on the property, not the property itself.
If a lien is purchased at a tax sale, the original property owner has 18 months to pay the taxes plus 1 percent interest per month. That money, including the interest, is then given to the lien holder.
If the original property owner, however, fails to pay the taxes within 18 months, the lien holder has the option of taking title of the property or forfeiting his or her bid and returning the property to the original property owner.
Holley said the process attracts real estate investors looking to make money off the interest. In the meantime, the property continues to decay.
Under the proposed land bank model, Huntington would be allowed to purchase all of the tax liens within city limits at the county's annual tax sale. The city would collect the interest on the property and use the money to cut the grass or demolish it.
The properties that go unredeemed over the 18-month period would go to the land bank, Holley said. The land bank then would sell the property for redevelopment or give it away to a neighboring property owner to use as a side yard, he said.
The biggest hurdle now is developing a business plan to present to banks so the city can get a loan to make the initial purchase of tax liens, Holley said. The land bank would eventually become self-sufficient, he said.
The process would be beneficial for everyone involved, Holley said. The city would benefit because it would take possession of dilapidated property. The county would benefit because it would be selling all of its tax liens in the city. And residents would benefit through the removal of an eyesore in their neighborhood.
Holley said county officials not only support the land bank proposal, but have helped work on it.
"Tom Bell deserves a lot of the credit," Holley said of Cabell County's chief tax deputy. "He brought a lot of the ideas to us. It's been a good partnership."
The county's next tax lien sale is in early November. Holley said he doesn't know whether the land bank proposal will be ready to go before City Council for approval by then.
"That's a pretty ambitious deadline," he said.
