WESTOVER – A newly formed association of Westover stakeholders is asking the city for increased communication and collaboration on decisions and issues impacting their properties and businesses.
During Monday’s regular meeting of Westover City Council, the body heard from two representatives of the Westover Business and Property Owners Association regarding issues ranging from enforcement of a specific ordinance requiring dumpster enclosures to the city’s overall tax structure.
Per city code, businesses, apartment buildings and trailer courts with four or more units are required to have “appropriately sized dumpsters” on-site.
On Jan. 1, 2005, dumpster enclosures became an added requirement in order to “obstruct the view of the dumpster generally from the public view and from other property owners.”
Despite being on the city’s books for more than 21 years, the enclosure requirement has never really been communicated or enforced by the city, according to Ray Glymph.
That changed in late April, when a letter was issued by the city explaining the requirement would be enforced going forward. The letter stated that the impacted property owners had 20 days from receipt of the notice to have an enclosure design approved by the city, and 30 days following that approval to comply with the construction of the enclosure.
“I understand the issue and the intent behind the ordinance, and I want to be clear that I do support it. Beautification benefits all of us, residents and business owners,” Glymph said. “But I am here to ask the council to consider two practical realities that make this 30-day window a little bit too tight … And not just inconvenient, but pretty unreasonable.”
One, Glymph said, property owners will be scrambling to find reputable contractors to do the work during the peak of the summer construction season. And two, there’s been no allowance to plan for the added expense.
“Between labor and materials, this project may exceed $2,000 per landlord or business owner at a time when our costs are rising. To absorb an unannounced capital expense of this magnitude in 30 days is not reasonable,” he said.
Glymph asked the city to consider extending the compliance window to six months. He also asked the city to look into the potential for a tax credit and/or the creation of a beautification grant program through which the city could partner with residents and business owners to incentivize the changes it desires.
“So maybe for every dollar that’s spent through different programs, it becomes a city match. This could be for things like this trash enclosure. It could be landscape and business facade beautification. We’ve done it in the city of Morgantown. Not sure if Westover has something like that, but it would be a great incentive to actually push the agenda and get the city cleaned up just like we want,” he said. “It’s not a subsidy. It’s just a signal that says the city values partnership.”
Council also heard from Joe Panico regarding Westover’s implementation of a 1% sales tax through the state’s Home Rule program.
Westover’s city sales tax took effect July 1, 2024. As a requirement of establishing a sales tax, cities must reduce business and occupation privilege taxes – meaning non-construction B&O taxes. Those taxes fall into a number of categories including amusement, banking, contracting, manufacturing, public service utility, rental, retail, service/other, and wholesale.
Westover eliminated B&O taxes on manufacturing, wholesalers and amusement. It also lowered B&O taxes in the service/other category from 1% to 0.75% and in the banking category from 1% to 0.50%.
State code does not specify what categories or to what degree B&O taxes must be reduced. The city of Morgantown and the town of Granville made similar B&O adjustments in enacting their municipal sales tax programs. While the numbers vary in each case, the amount of revenue eliminated through B&O reductions is substantially less than the amount generated through sales taxes.
Panico said he believes the legislature’s intent in allowing sales taxes as part of Home Rule was to move away from West Virginia’s outdated B&O tax structure and spread the burden beyond businesses to include consumers.
“Local businesses already pay B&O taxes based on gross receipts regardless of whether they generate a profit. A retailer, a restaurant, a contractor, or any other service provider can owe B&O taxes during the years when they’re struggling financially,” he said. “Adding a 1% sales tax without meaningful B&O relief forces many businesses to absorb both taxes simultaneously. This creates concerns about the fairness and economic competitiveness, and whether the spirit and the intent of the Home Rule legislation has been fulfilled.”
He asked city council to establish a joint committee including representatives from the elected body as well as representatives from the Westover Business and Property Owners Association and other interested stakeholders to review the city tax structure and develop recommendations for moving forward.
In response to Glymph and Panico, some members of council agreed that increased interaction could be beneficial.
“I think it makes sense. This is our sales tax money at work. This is what we’ve got it for, to work with the citizens and business owners to help unify the city and take care of the people. So, maybe there’s something there that we can work on. Maybe we have a committee right now that could be part of this. Maybe we need to make a new one. But I think anything we could do. The one thing we that we don’t have, we don’t have citizen groups that come to us. We don’t have day-to-day interaction,” Councilor Duane Tatar said.
“I would agree that I think we should meet with the business owners,” Councilor Alli Jackson added. “If it’s creating a hardship, then we should look at other alternatives to get these dumpsters, or the containers, so that everybody can be in compliance. Maybe we can extend that a little bit further than 30 days.”
