Pocahontas County Hotel Motel Tax Allocations Remain The Same For 2011

Marlinton, WV – The discussion about allocation of the Pocahontas County Hotel Motel tax revenues has sparked spirited debate among the Pocahontas County Commissioners in past years. But after hearing from representatives of several county organizations Tuesday morning, Commission President David Fleming and Commissioner Jamie Walker agreed to keep the allocations at the same percentages used in 2010. Commissioner Martin Saffer was not present for the vote, having called in sick.

Fifty percent of the revenues generated by the Hotel Motel tax are given to the county Conventions and Visitors Bureau, as mandated by West Virginia state law. As they have in the past, the Commissioners also agreed to set aside $230,000.00 from the tax revenues, broken down as follows:

$75,000.00 for Pocahontas Memorial Hospital
$75,000.00 for the Emergency Medical Services Authority
$50,000.00 for the county Fire Association
$30,000.00 for the courthouse Bricks & Morter fund.

The money for PMH has already been disbursed. After these disbursements, a percentage of the remainder, if any, is distributed to the following county organizations –

Parks & Recreation – 32%
Pocahontas County Free Libraries – 34%
Arts Council – 6%
Landmarks Commission – 6%
Dramas, Fairs and Festivals – 22%

In other business, the Commissioners also accepted a $500.00 bid from Green Bank businessman Jacob Meck on a 100,000 gal storage tank, currently located at the East Fork Industrial Park in Frank. The Commissioners were initially reluctant to accept any bid on the tank, after hearing from several residents in the Green Bank area concerned about the use of the tank. Meck wants to use the tank for storage for his portable toilet business, and he says he has the blessing of the West Virginia Dept of Environmental Protection.

“Basically I am regulated with the DEP for the purpose that I’m going to be using this for” says Meck. “The DEP has been out, they’ve seen the tank; they’ve set the parameters for how the tank will be set and how they would approve it. The DEP is totally in favor of what I’m doing with it; the site that it’s currently on they are afraid of due to the things that have happened there in the past. So their blessing is far greater in moving it even though that’s a tremendous cost to me.”

Meck is also awaiting approval from the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation to expand his property lease in the Green Bank Industrial Park.

Dr. Arthur Kreft, President of the Pocahontas Arts Council also spoke to the Commissioners Tuesday morning. He outlined some of the many projects the council has been working on, such as after school arts classes, art shows throughout the county, and their latest acquisition, a building in Durbin across from the Train station worth $154,000.00. Kreft says the building will have classroom, workshop, gallery and retail spaces, and will be open when the train runs. He says he and fellow arts council member Cynthia Guerri are also mentoring three high school arts students spending up to 40 hours with each student.