An already unpredictable and sizeable cost for county taxpayers in West Virginia is about to take up even more of county budgets.
The daily rate to incarcerate an inmate in one of the stateâs 10 regional jails increases by almost 14% on July 1.
County commissioners throughout the state learned in the spring the Legislature would not act to keep a cap on the daily rate, commonly referred to as the per diem rate, established in a 2018 law. Come July 1, the daily incarceration rate will increase from $48.25 to $54.88, based on the most recent calculations by the State Budget Office.
âI donât know how some of these counties are going to survive this situation,â said Logan County Commission President Danny Godby. âItâs gotten to be a point to where all youâre going to be able to do is keep the offices open and not provide any activity for the general public . I donât know whatâs going to happen.â
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that West Virginia communities will receive nearly $3 million of Brownfields funding through its Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup (MAC) Grants.
As $677 million in federal relief hits, Justice promises strategic plan and legislative buy-in By
Gov. Jim Justice leads a briefing about the state s pandemic response.
More than $677 million in federal relief funds flowed to West Virginia’s state government today, and Gov. Jim Justice says planning has begun for how to spend it.
“We just got the money in this morning. We’ve done a lot of research into how the money can be used,” Justice said during a briefing today.
The governor didn’t yet have many specifics on that, though, except to say that members of the state Legislature will be involved in allocating the money.
CHARLESTON â West Virginia American Waterâs request for water and wastewater rate increases has drawn the ire of local residents and officials.
The Kanawha County Commission and members of Charleston City Council are among those objecting to West Virginia Americanâs rate hike requests filed April 30 with state utility regulators.
The company is seeking an additional $40.8 million in annual revenue for water and wastewater operations combined, 26.1% more than the companyâs current rates.
County Commission President Kent Carper weighed in on West Virginia Americanâs request for the rate hike during the commissionâs meeting Thursday.
âIt is easy to sit here and complain as utility companies just recklessly, unfairly raise peopleâs rates,â Carper said. âBut in this case, itâs just true.â
Apr 16, 2021
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Thursday signed a bill to introduce more stringent requirements to needle exchange programs that critics say will make it harder to get clean needles amid a spike in HIV cases in the state.
The bill won legislative approval on the final day of the session Saturday.
In urging Justice to reject the bill, the American Civil Liberties Union’s West Virginia chapter had sent the Republican governor a letter Wednesday on behalf of nearly 300 doctors, nurses, recovery coaches, clergy and others who work with people directly affected by injection drug use. The letter said the bill will wipe out exchange programs and result in more lives lost. West Virginia has by far the nation’s highest death rate from drug overdoses.