FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WOAY) – In a statement to Newswatch today, Fayette County Commissioner Allison Taylor gave context behind her decision to support cuts to Fayette County excess fire, law, and library levy rates and clarified additional information about the county commission’s process in determining the cuts.
According to Taylor, the cuts are not permanent. If the county commission does not act again, the levy rates will return to the percentages approved by voters in the May 2024 election.
“Levy rates will automatically return to the maximum rate next July 1, 2026, unless the Commission votes to reduce them again,” Taylor said. “And, if it does vote to reduce the rates, it doesn’t have to reduce them all and it doesn’t have to do it by the same amounts it did this fiscal year.”
Taylor said the commission has been preparing for a potential cut to levy rates since before the election.
“A reduction in the levy rates has been in the works since well before the levies were on the May 2024 ballot as evidenced by the language the Commission included to allow it to reduce the rates starting this levy cycle if it believed it was collecting too much tax,” Taylor said. “Make no mistake, we have been collecting too much tax.”
Because of the balance in the fire levy account already, Taylor said she could not justify keeping the levies at their current rates.
“As of that April 15 Commission meeting, we had sufficient funding in the fire levy account to fund all 16 volunteer fire departments for three years,” she said. “In the meantime, we have citizens who can’t afford to eat or pay for their prescriptions because their tax and utility rates are too high.”
In her statement, Taylor confirmed Newswatch’s report yesterday that the state auditor’s office did not recommend cutting levy rates.
“The Auditor’s Office never recommended the Commission reduce the levy or take any action regarding the levy. An Auditor’s Office staff member made a conversational comment to a member of our staff that it was unusual (not improper) to have a balance as high as our fire levy balance since it’s not meant to be a savings account,” Taylor said. “It was not intended as guidance or a directive. It was simply an unofficial comment that was not intended to influence the commissioners whatsoever.”
In a written statement yesterday, the state auditor’s office told Newswatch it never made any levy recommendations to the Fayette County Commission. We had previously been told that an auditor had made a recommendation to the commission about the levy.
Taylor said she asked if it was appropriate to have a carry-over in the levy account to pay for expensive items. The state auditor’s office said that it was acceptable.
Taylor also said Eddie Young, the county assessor, did not recommend that the county commission cut levy rates.
“The County Assessor notified the levying bodies that Fayette County’s regular and excess levy rates were among the highest in the state,” Taylor said. “He did not make any specific recommendations about the amounts of levy cuts, which would have been spurious since he was not aware of the levy balances or other factors that would have been important considerations.”
Young contacted Newswatch yesterday and told us he was shocked by the scale of the levy cuts.
Taylor said commissioners were planning to cut rates independent of outside input.
“While the Auditor’s office’s and the Accessor’s individual comments may have been factored into some commissioners’ ultimate decisions, they alone were not the catalyst for the cuts,” she said. “A long history of overtaxing and undisciplined spending in various areas of government were.”
Some of the levy cuts stem from a shift in funding source. She said that no Fayette County deputies are being paid by the levy, and that prompted the cut in law levy rates.
“Before last fiscal year, over 60% of Fayette County’s deputy sheriffs had to rely on the levy to pass to ensure they could keep their jobs because it paid their salaries and benefits,” Taylor said. “After the end of this levy cycle, all of the deputies’ salaries and benefits will be paid by the general county budget. The deputies didn’t lose funding, they’re just being funded more by the County than the levy, which is proper.”
The Fayette County Firefighters’ Association has publicly stated that it worries the cut in levy rates will lead to a decline in public service. Taylor disagrees.
“Every fire department received a budget increase and we paid off several trucks for over $650K, funded over $200K in fire station repairs and allocated $2.4M for three new trucks. This is not what a funding crisis looks like,” Taylor said. “Several of our departments get new trucks every levy cycle and have been given all of the equipment and training they have requested.”
“ If there is a reduction in service to the public, it will not be because of funding – especially the municipal fire departments who also receive municipal funds.”
Press Release-Final.docxUltimately, Taylor says she believes there isn’t a good reason to keep the levies at their maximum rate now that the county budget is healthy enough to lower them.
“To levy an excess tax such as the levies in question, a county commission must have insufficient funds in its general budget to fund the services it seeks to fund with the levy,” Taylor said.
