Home Rule On The Way
Council given measures to enact state-granted powersBy CASEY JUNKINS
Article Photos
WHEELING - Owners of vacant buildings in Wheeling may soon have to pay registration fees as members of City Council are moving forward with their home rule powers.
And as for vacant buildings, council is also planning to use $647,940 in Tax Increment Financing to purchase the former G.C. Murphy building, the former Rite Aid building and the River City Dance Works building in the 1100 block of Main and Market streets.
During the Tuesday council meeting, City Manager Robert Herron gave council members first drafts of the home rule ordinances that council directed him to formulate.
"There are eight pieces of home rule legislation in all," he said.
Following a brief discussion, council members agreed to send the eight proposed ordinances to council's rules committee for review. City Clerk Janice Jones said a meeting of the rules committee will now be scheduled.
New powers granted to Wheeling under home rule include the authority to enforce service liens for demolishing dilapidated properties; the right to issue conditional use zoning and planning permits; and the authority to impose registration fees on the owners of vacant properties.
In addition to Wheeling, the West Virginia Municipal Home Rule Board also granted Charleston, Huntington and Bridgeport the right to home rule.
Herron previously said vacant buildings such as the former Rogers Hotel on 14th Street and former Imperial Pools building on 15th Street are examples of structures upon which the city would like to impose registration fees.
Council also heard the first reading of an ordinance to purchase the three 1100 block buildings as part of the $8 million TIF application and project.
The former Rite Aid building has an appraised value of $270,800, but the city is paying $200,000, which is $70,800 less than the Ohio County Assessor's appraised value. Three parcels of the former G.C. Murphy building have a total appraised value of $306,300, but the city is paying $290,000, which is $16,300 less than the value. A fourth parcel of the former G.C. Murphy building has an appraised value of $92,200, but the city is paying $95,400, which is $3,740 more than the value. The River City Dance Works building at 1122 Main St. has an appraised value of $60,000, but the city is paying $80,000, which is $20,000 more than the value.
In another matter, council passed an ordinance to move meeting times from 7:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., starting with the Sept. 2 meeting.
Council also approved a resolution to award construction contracts to the lowest and best/responsible bidder that will focus as much on the best/responsible factors as the lowest cost factor.
Mayor Andy McKenzie also congratulated city employees for their efforts in dealing with the recent Main Street water main break.
"I thank the police and fire departments for their efforts ... the water department worked as quickly as possible. They did an 'A-1' job," he said.
McKenzie also declared Sept. 1 "Muscular Dystrophy Association Day" in Wheeling. The mayor also presented a proclamation to Amie Jones, district director of the MDA.
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HercX007
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08-26-08 11:44 PM
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What does any of this have to do with the article above? Absolutely nothing. Let's stick to the article here, please.
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EllisWyatt
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08-22-08 10:08 PM
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Rev I'll support bringing the troops home-just as soon as the terrorists who kill our troops are brought to justice. Al Qaeda, Iran, the Palestinians, etc. all need to be made an example of. When we punish them AND demand that Iraq pay war reparations of $500 billion in oil, I will be satisfied.
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theRev
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08-21-08 11:06 PM
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what do you call an american who wants to bring our troops home? a traitor What do you call a regular iraqi who wants the troops out of his country? a terrorist What do you call an al-maliki who wants american troops out? anyone know the answer?
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HercX007
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08-21-08 9:23 PM
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I remember when I was a kid, back in the early seventies mind you, an older relative made the comment that Wheeling would be one gigantic parking lot for gambling on Wheeling Island. Well lets see, the Outlet Mall went bust, the tunnels are a fiasco, the Capital Music Hall has been shut down (when all along the Powers That Be KNEW what needed to be done to save it), and many buildings have been torn down and leveled. Now with "Home Rule" many other buildings will be purchased by the City and be torn down. If you all remember, McKenzie made the statement after his taking over the office of mayor that Home Rule is not even a concern of his. He's wasn't even going to discuss Home Rule anymore. Not an issue. Now its back in the headlines again! Eventually the comment this now departed relative will ring true. Wheeling will be become one gigantic parking lot for gamblers.
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EllisWyatt
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08-21-08 6:13 PM
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wvforsale Social Democrats have controlled Congress for 42 of the last 54 years and Congress controls spending. The Social Democrats are demanding an end to the war. They have the power to end the war tomorrow. But they will never have the courage to end the war because they are, fundamentally, cowards. The New Deal? FDR-Democrat The Great Society? LBJ-Democrat World War I? Wilson-Democrat World War II? FDR-Democrat Vietnam? JFK/LBJ-Democrat Chrysler bailout? Jimmy Carter-Democrat Now, I know you'll come back with the outrageous spending of Republicans and you would be correct. When politicians discuss "cutting spending" they do not mean lower dollar amounts. Republicans' idea of "cutting spending" is a government that grows 5% per year. Social Democrats' idea of "cutting spending" is a government that grows 8% per year.
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atoddh
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08-21-08 2:26 PM
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The scale of squandering of public money - both Federal and local - for non productive - even counter productive - projects in Wheeling is breathtaking:tens of millions and more in the(TIF) pipeline.
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wvforsale
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08-21-08 7:30 AM
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ellis, it must be painful to be an expert on the economy! The "conservatives" spend too much! Interesting! Might be a good idea to quit with the corporate welfare......
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EllisWyatt
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08-21-08 6:28 AM
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wvforsale Our current economic situation is a result of out of control spending-including social programs. Let me explain something very simple, so that you can understand it: the Bush tax cuts have brought in RECORD federal revenues. FACT. Overspending has done us in. Tax cuts have increased revenues enough to reduce the deficit. In fact, in 2007, the deficit was something like $256 billion lower than expected because of the unexpected increase in federal revenues. Even the Social Democrat hero, JFK (who would be a Republican today) understood that tax cuts bring in more revenue. Everytime we've cut taxes, federal revenues have increased. Tax increases reduce federal revenues. Social Democrats cannot understand this. This is because you cannot understand simple economics.
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atoddh
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08-20-08 11:06 PM
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WV: I am surprized. TIF only works when there is a private party involved as there was with Lowes. Stones - a spec project - has failed. The current project does not seem to have any benefit-just public debt.Although the owner of Murphys will benefit and may be connected to former City officials. The scale of the public money being squandered in Wheeling - with no return or benefit - is really breathtaking.
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wvforsale
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08-20-08 10:03 PM
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atoddh, How's the new Mayor looking now, in his second month in office?
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wvforsale
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08-20-08 10:02 PM
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Ellis, so the Bush tax cuts have been good for the economy? The US is currently on good economic ground? So what is the answer?
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atoddh
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08-20-08 8:32 PM
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Ellis: It seems very odd that the City is borrowing money to bail out a couple of empty building owners; with no particular plan in place. Meanwhile the burned out buildings next to Stones remain. (Stones is a failed TIF project itself.Its marketablity is adversely affected by the burned out buildings.This should be a priority.) In commerical real estate, lenders now require a very substantial portion of the project be pre-leased(occupied) prior to making a loan. The City should abopt this approach and not proceed(with the debt) unless and until they have a definite project lined up. With Home Rule the owners will - and should - be responsible for maintaining the buildings proposed for demolition vs public debt to bail them out. They also pay taxes on them. The City, WNHAC & OVIBDC have instigated bad project after bad project - costing tens of millions in public funds. The result has been a decline in Downtown - NOT an improvement. Can their judgement now be trusted???
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PCGS70
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08-20-08 6:59 PM
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The City of Wheeling is sad looking. Half the population has left town. The half that stayed think that taxes and government will save them. Sad . So Sad
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EllisWyatt
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08-20-08 6:50 PM
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Home Rule will be a disaster for Wheeling. Taxes on the only people willing and able to purchase buildings. Wage taxes. New fees, etc. When will people realize that higher taxes and more regulation bring economic failure? If you compare the cities that have low taxes and a friendly business environment vs. cities that overtax and are anything but friendly to business, you will see what I mean.
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atoddh
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08-20-08 2:28 PM
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Tenet: At the Highlands - for example - are only constructed AFTER an occupant is signed. Orrick was signed to come to Wheeling before the Stamping Building was done.These projects have been successful. Speculative projects have not worked and should not be funded with debt.The current TIF plan is all speculation with public debt with the Capital suggested as non profit - vs private paying no taxes at all!!
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atoddh
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08-20-08 2:22 PM
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tenete:The prior demolitions and dubious WNHAC real estate projects have been done with Federal Grants-not loans. Now public debt(TIF) is being used for the demolitions. Under the new "Home Rule" the owners-not the public- would have been obliged to pay for the demolitions or repairs.This,therefore, seems like a scheme to benefit the building owners and associates-with no particular goal other than "green space" creation. You will recall the City Manager alleged hundreds of new - unidentified - high paying jobs would result from the demolitions.It would be best to have the jobs arranged and indetified first before borrowing the money for the "green space" seemingly needed for the jobs. The "Victorian Mall" was largely a WNHAC project in which the City cooperated.This latest plan is mostly the same group with the City rubber stamping the "plan." It is not good policy to use public debt with no clear purpose or private partner.The mo
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BurningUp07
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08-20-08 12:22 PM
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For gods sake will someone just drop a bomb on the old Rogers hotel and get it over with, I've been hearing about that stupid building since I was 5 years old. Just another rust belt Wheeling eyesore. If there is no decent jobs or businesses going into these buildings anytime soon, tear them all down! All of em'! If the Home Rule will get us one step closer towards that possibly, then I'm all for it. I would rather see a paved lot or a park with 3 benches and 5 trees instead of some of these Wheeling buildings that look like something out of a World War II movie.
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Tenente61
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08-20-08 8:42 AM
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Many of the businesses leaving the city or that have left the city did so on their own accord. Some were run out of business by the mall that should have been in Wheeling but was chased out by some of the business owners that went out of business. Many were lured out of the city by the county administration to go to the Highlands. The "current" administration has brought many new businesses into the city. There is way more to Wheeling than the 4 block radius downtown. In order to bring or attract anything downtown, these "dilapidated" structures and eyesores need to be torn down to open up some greenspace. No matter what the city administration does there are those who are going to gripe about it.*******if you do.*******if you don't. At least the current administration is trying to do something with downtown.
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Tenente61
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08-20-08 8:31 AM
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What business has the "current" administration chased out of town???
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tmoore
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08-20-08 7:26 AM
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What a novel long term plan by the city. Chase all business out of town,then tax the empty buildings instead of the businesses.Except the ones they tear down with tax money. Anybody see a problem here??mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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atoddh
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08-20-08 3:14 AM
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What is the benefit to the public of buying the buildings.How will the purchase increase property taxes-the goal of the TIF program? Will the purchase and demolitions result in new job formation or just a sale and benefit for for the owners? Is there any meaningful value in assuming public debt for this? Was it even considered?
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