Panel to decide on home rule plans

Huntington officials could learn as soon as today whether they will have more authority in areas such as dilapidated housing, delinquent fee collections and tax reform.

A state panel assembled to review cities' applications for home rule powers will meet at 10 a.m. today in Morgantown to begin the selection process for a five-year, pilot program.

Huntington is one of four cities that has applied for the home rule program. Charleston, Wheeling and Bridgeport also have applied. The state panel could choose all four cities for the pilot program.

Cabell County Delegate Jim Morgan, a member on the home rule panel, said he anticipates that all four cities will be selected. However, the panel may alter or withdraw components of each city's application, he said.

"It's too early to tell what that will be," he said Tuesday.

Each city gave a presentation on its plan to the home rule panel earlier this year.

The meeting could extend into Thursday if the panel cannot reach a consensus today, Morgan said. The meeting will occur at the Mountain Lair, the student union at West Virginia University.

Also on the panel are Sen. Ed Bowman, D-Hancock; Wheeling Mayor Nick Sparachane; Jon Amores, deputy secretary of commerce; Martinsburg resident Floyd McKinley Sayre, who serves as the Business and Industry Council's representative; and Brian Jones of Morgantown, the representative for the AFL-CIO.

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 asks the panel to give the city authority to create a land bank; change state law to allow cities to capture fire insurance claim proceeds under certain circumstances; strengthen ordinances to collect delinquent fees; and overhaul its tax structure by implementing an occupation tax and repealing the $2-a-week user fee and reducing the business and occupation tax.

The panel's approval of a city's plan does not mean the proposals are effective. Cities must then enact local ordinances.