NEWS FROM  A DEMOCRATIC VIEWPOINT 9-6-23

Submitted by Deirdre Purdy

And Now, in Local News . . .

There’s a story going around that somehow Calhoun County was ridden into the ground over the past 40 years by Democrats.  Time to review the true history of our county finances.

Back 40 years ago, West Virginia counties collected their taxes and set their budgets according to what they had. Everyone muddled along.

Then, in the early 1990s, the State established the regional jail system.  Instead of counties running their own jails, often with the jailer’s wife making the food and the inmates cleaning the jail, all county prisoners had to be sent to one of the 10 regional jails.

There were costs for transport and, especially, costs for caring for the prisoners.  Those costs were billed to the counties.  Suddenly, instead of counties choosing to spend what they had, counties were burdened by large regional jail bills.

The story-tellers blame Democrats for the years when Calhoun was in the red.  Those were the same years when many other counties owed a heckuva lot more.  In January 2021, Webster County owed $2.7 million, Lincoln $1.8 million, Clay $1.2 million, Logan $1.2 million, and McDowell, $1.15 million for regional jail bills.  

That debt had nothing to do with political party and everything to do with huge state bills that poor counties’ local taxes couldn’t cover.

At that time, Calhoun County owed half a million dollars on its regional jail bill.  But last year, Calhoun County was able to pay the entire bill off.

How did that happen?

Around 2016 it became clear that a compressor station would be situated near the Calhoun/Ritchie County line.

County commission president Chip Westfall and commissioner Kevin Helmick, both Democrats by the way, went to work.  They visited the TransCanada office many times.  They presented the energy company with Calhoun tax rates versus Ritchie taxes.  

One time, they took Calhoun assessor Jason Nettles, also a Democrat by the way, to help TransCanada figure what their school taxes would be.  The two commissioners even went with TransCanada to meet the Calhoun landownerswhere the station would be located.

Ritchie County did not make a pitch.  Calhoun got the compressor station.

Once the compressor station went online and began paying its taxes, Calhoun County was able to pay off its half-million-dollar regional jail bill in full.  

With compressor station tax money, the Calhoun County commission could also pay for engineering studies for water line extensions, help Minnie Hamilton with repairs, and do so much more to improve the county.

The true history is that it was Democrats who pulled the county out of a debt spiral.  But they didn’t do it because they were Democrats.  They did it because they were public servants who saw a way to solve a huge problem for the county.

It’s plain false to blame local Democrats for the lean years, but let’s give credit where credit is due.  Two Democratic commissioners saw a way out of the debt predicament and worked to make it happen.  They put us in the black.  

You can see a problem, blame others for it, complain and hold protests.  Or you can identify a problem, look for a solution and do what you can to fix it.

Democrats solve problems.