A bill making its way through the Legislature would put a heavier burden on struggling counties across Southern West Virginia, according to several county commissioners.
The bill, SB 705, would cut the coal severance tax, a source of revenue that counties use to bolster budgets, from 5 percent to 3 percent by 2018.
"We're barely holding on right now," said Jerry Hamrick, a Webster county commissioner, whose county is in debt to the regional jail.
Counties across Southern West Virginia have scrambled to find money to pay bills and salaries amid declines in property taxes and coal severance revenue.
"Basically, what they're doing is taking money away from the poor counties and giving it to the rich coal operators," said Charles Vance, a commissioner in Lincoln County.
The majority of the coal severance tax goes to the state's general revenue fund, but a small share of the money is given to local governments based on population. A larger 4 percent share, increasing to 5 percent this year, goes to the counties who produce the coal, based on how much they produce.
Even with an increased portion of the money, counties have already begun to see a decrease in coal severance revenue as mines have produced less coal.
In 2012, coal severance taxes brought in $530 million for the state. That dropped to a projected $375 million in 2015, which would be the lowest since 2005.
When Nicholas county commissioner Ken Altizer came into office in 2012, the county was making about $1.6 million off of coal severance. This year, Nicholas is looking at between $65,000 and $70,000, a 95 percent decrease over four years.
Raleigh County is down $141,000 from what it collected last year. Next year, county officials are projecting around $1 million in coal severance revenue.
"It would be the first time in a very long time that Raleigh County would see under a million in coal severance," said Jeff Raines, the Raleigh County administrator.
Boone County, one of the largest producers of coal in the state, lost more than half of its coal production between 2003 and 2013, and the losses have been reflected in its budget.
Last year, the county fired all of its part-time employees and has a case pending with the state Public Service Commission to close the solid waste transfer stations in the county to make room on their budget.
Boone is facing a $1 million shortage on their coal severance tax. The county has received only $600,000 in coal severance this year, which would put it well below the $2 million brought in last year when the final check comes in.
"It's going to cripple us," Boone County Commissioner Mickey Brown said. "We're crippled anyway right now."
Brown compared Boone County's budget to a cake. The bulk of it, he said, is from property taxes and that makes up the cake itself. The coal severance taxes are the icing.
"We rely on coal severance for the good things," Brown said.
Boone isn't alone. In years past, Lincoln County was able to fund self-help projects to assist in getting clean water to the rural communities in the county.
Raleigh County uses their money to support the Women's Center and the Humane Society.
Mingo County used to use theirs to fund the Little League, but hasn't been able to in recent years.
"When you look at what we can do with the money and you look at [the coal companies'] budget, you're really looking at a drop in the bucket," Vance said.
Many of the counties in Southern West Virginia are already looking at steep budget cuts. As coal companies have gone bankrupt or left West Virginia, the property taxes that the counties rely on have decreased.
Some counties, like Boone, Nicholas and Mingo, have had to fire employees in the last year.
"It's really a Catch 22 for the Legislature because with all the people out of work you want to lower the coal severance tax to bring in more jobs," said Greg Smith, a Mingo County commissioner.
But Vance wasn't so sure.
"I just have a lot of problems with the Legislature giving back a tax to some of the richest people in the state," he said.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.