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Monday, February 29, 2016

Local Prosecutor Kicking Tail

So what about these--Do they pay property taxes????

Propane Gas Plant is on County Commission Property but the rental "if any" goes to GVEDC.  Gas company is private like the Marlinton Vet and the Lady who did the dog grooming in the ARC building.


The County owns the ground and has been "renting" the building to Interstate Lumber Co., a private for-profit company.  They don't want to pay rent any more so the CC is considering letting them use the building for "upkeep."  If the HSPCA has to pay taxes, shouldn't Interstate?






The big blue building is brand new.  Interstate pays almost $8000 per month
and every dollar heads to the GVEDC.  Are they paying taxes on this building?  If not who is?



I can think of several ways we could use this money in the county. 

 Perhaps a half million in property taxes to boot?

What do YOU think? 

As your CC why it is letting all this money pour out of our county faster than the waters of The GREENBRIER?????

Maybe if we kept this money in the county our Senior Citizens programs find a fine use for it.  

Or how many books would that provide for the Durbin Library.

Maybe we wouldn't need a levy if we used this money for our schools?????

Just saying????



HSPC Gets Hit With $800 Property Tax Bill




Complete run by volunteers.No money for taxes.

Commentator Warns That 2nd Step of Alderman's Prediction is Happening:




Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Step Two: School Bldgs in Terrible Condition": 

Our County, our schools. Stolen momey form Charleston or DC always comes with strings, like "prevailing wages", which make everyhtinfg cost five times waht it should. have we no carpenters, plumbers, electricians, er, masons, in this County? I would SUPPORT a levy to fix OUR schools OUR way with LOCAL labor and materials, and run them OUR WAY with no outside interference. What ever happened to the wood boiler in the High School?



Here is the recipe for getting a new set of school buildings:

1. Lower the maintenance budget so that the buildings will look in disrepair.

2.  Declare that the buildings are in disrepair.

3.  Instead of fixing up the old buildings, declare that only a "new" facility will be the needs of the "students." (When you get the new buildings, you let the old ones rot to the ground.)

4.  Point out that a building is in the floodplain and has to be moved for the "safety of the children."

5.  Ignore the fact that your last building was built in the floodplain just a few years ago and that you have just put a million dollars into a "Wellness" center.  (You have to avoid mentioning this fact and hope that no one will raise the issue.

6.  Explain how a new facility will be more efficient and cost less! (While asking the citizens to pay more taxes to pay for the new facilities.  It is like going to the store and buying something you didn't need or wanted because "It was on Sale."

7.  Get the businesses in the community to join in support of the new school system.  (This will be a little more difficult in the town where the school is now because the citizens of the town will have to pay more for the basic services such as water and sewer.  This is because you just moved their biggest customer out of town.  They think their water bill is already too high.

8.  Explain that the elementary/middle schools will be better off because the student population will be more "balanced."  (Try to ignore the fact that you just moved the 5th graders from the middle school to the school in town, thereby adding to the number of "endangered" students in the floodplain.)

9.  Explain that the "longer bus rides" will actually be better for the students.

10.  Tell folks that by moving the "Fifth graders" from the smallest school that you are actually improving the education of the other grades.  (This is like cutting the top of the blanket off and sewing it on the bottom and claiming that you have made the blanket better."

11.  Get the state to give you a "grant" for studying the problem.  (Ignore that the problems have existed since time immemorial.   $100,000 will purchase a lot of "grease for your skids")  Ignore the face that grants are what got our school system in jams in the first place.

12.  Hit the road to sell your plan.  Get your board of education to support a levy.  Use the slogan, "It is all about the kids."   That way those in favor of higher taxes will complain that you are being "cheap" because you don't want a bigger tax bill.

14.   Emphasize the support of your school board "PRESIDENT for the idea.  This should inspire great confidence in the voters as he attends publicity functions with his mistress.

13.  Threaten to lay off some teachers and school personnel "If the levy doesn't pass."

14.  Explain how $11,000,000 is really just a "drop in the bucket" for a better education.  You will have to sidestep the fact that our county is losing population all the time and has to have a state subsidy to "cap" the student population at 14,000.  (Don't forget to mention that this "cap" might be removed at any time.)

15.  Don't mention that some students daily travel to school on a bus ride which is almost as long as some of their parents have to travel to get to their job.

16.  Once you have gotten your levy passed and your new buildings announce that the Board of Education would like to move its offices down to the "no longer used" elementary school building.  Hope that no one notices that you have just moved the elementary school out of the floodplain for their safety and now you want to move the board office into that same "dangerous" building WITH ALL THE STUDENTS RECORDS. Brilliant move.!

17.  Once this is done you get the board to recommend the razing of the old board building so that you will have more parking space.

18.  Share the pain with all the kids.  Plan to move the Greenbank Middle Schoolers to the high school campus along with the Marlinton Elementary middle schoolers.  Move the 5th grade Hillsboro students to Marlinton Middle School.  That way the Hillsboro school will be even smaller.  Eventually it will be too small and it can be  closed.

19.  Build a separate facility for the middle schools at the high school.  Tell the community that you are going to keep them separate from the high school to protect the middle school students.  Try to avoid discussing the bus ride with the high school children which they will be traveling even longer that they were before.

20.  Lastly,  a levy will allow you to further drain the economic resources of the county in the same manner as when they attached leeches to George Washington to get rid of his "excess" blood.  The cure will kill the system as it did ole George.  The levy will prevent a lot of people from having "excess" money in their wallets.  Like the commercial,  it will be easier to ask the question:  "What's in your wallet?"

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Step Two: School Bldgs in Terrible Condition": 

Our County, our schools. Stolen momey form Charleston or DC always comes with strings, like "prevailing wages", which make everyhtinfg cost five times waht it should. have we no carpenters, plumbers, electricians, er, masons, in this County? I would SUPPORT a levy to fix OUR schools OUR way with LOCAL labor and materials, and run them OUR WAY with no outside interference. What ever happened to the wood boiler in the High School? 

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Editor's Note:  The entire staff of the Pocahontas Commentator Plus has endorsed Donald Trump in their weekly shower room on Beaver Creek.
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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Step Two: School Bldgs in Terrible Condition


February 19, 2016
Audio Player
We recently we spoke to Ron Hall, the Maintenance Director of the Pocahontas County Schools, to find out just how much their school buildings need renovation and repair. It was worse than I expected.
There has been a proposal to close down Marlinton Elementary is this necessary? Ron answers that question.
“If we elect to keep that school open, we will receive no funding from the SBA (WV School Building Authority) because it is in a flood plain” said Hall. “The needed repairs; all the electrical is outdated and all of the classrooms need more outlets in them. The (electrical) services are all old and need replaced. We need HVAC in the school and our sprinkler systems are done, they’ve served their life, the pipes are starting to burst. The fire alarm system is itself outdated for 30 years and we can’t get parts for it, so when it finally goes down we’ll have to replace the whole unit.”
How much will it cost to do the critical repairs to Marlinton Elementary? Ron.
“Giving you an exact cost is hard to do” Hall answers.”But I would guess, looking at the costs for the other schools, you’re probably looking in the vicinity of 6 to 7 million dollars to put the school back in good shape.”
Of course if Marlinton Elementary School is closed these costs would not need to be incurred. Ron goes on to talk about the problems at, and the costs to repair the Green Bank School.
“Green Bank needs new roofs” Hall says. “(It) needs new fire alarm, new sprinkler system, new windows (and) doors. The Gymnasium needs a new roof. You’re looking at about 7 million dollars to put that school back into satisfactory condition.”
It is proposed to move the Marlinton Elementary students, when that school closes or is forced to close, to Marlinton Middle School. Is the Middle School in need of repairs too? Ron.
“To move Marlinton Elementary up to the Middle School, we would have to add 4 classrooms up there” Hall said. “And do some renovations to again sprinkler systems and electrical upgrades and so forth. We’re looking at probably in the vicinity of 8 million dollars to do all that.”
If that move happens, the proposal is to move the 7th and 8th graders from both Middle Schools –Marlinton and Green Bank- to the High School. What shape is the high school in, Ron?
“The High School is in detrimental shape” Hall said. “It is quite old – about 47 years old. The sewer system is shot. About everything at the High school needs updated (and) renovated. We’re looking at probably in the vicinity of 16 million dollars to take care of all of that.”
How about Hillsboro Elementary?
“Hillsboro is probably the best school” Hall answered. “It’s received modernizations, you know, and a new cafeteria and stuff, so it is definitely our best school (facility) at this point.”
I asked Ron if there was any chance on receiving State funds for these renovations without passing a school levy.
“Short of the Levy, we’re not going to get any funding from the State” Hall replied. “With the levy, the SBA has allotted money for us to fix our schools, but we have to pass the levy to receive that funding.”
So what will the School system do if the levy fails to pass?
“We would somehow have to come up with the money in the County, and there is no way of doing that” Hall says. “Not a plug for or against the levy, I just know that our schools are falling down, they are wearing out and we need to repair. The levy is our number one option because the SBA will foot the money for the biggest part of these projects. Without the levy, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
So things are very bad indeed with the school buildings. Ron pointed out that several roofs at Green Bank School, and the roof at the High School need replacing and he just learned there is a leaky roof at Marlinton Middle school. To repair just one of the roofs at Green Bank will cost $450,000, money the Schools don’t have. Despite the fire alarm and sprinkler problems, the Fire Marshall has been holding off closing several of the buildings, waiting to see if the SBA funds become available.

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A local archivist who specializes in all things Pocahontas County