By Jessica Farrish THE REGISTER-HERALD
BECKLEY, W.Va. — As counties are struggling to pay a staggering bill to Southern Regional Jail each year, a cornerstone of the county budget – coal severance taxes – is failing.
The result, Raleigh County Commission President David Tolliver, Fayette County Commission President Denise Scalph and officials in other counties say, is a budgetary shortfall that needs immediate attention from state lawmakers in the upcoming session set to kick off early in the new year.
Rising jail bill costs are a given at this point, Scalph said.
“I don’t think that the rise in the jail bill is going to go away,” Scalph said. “It’s going to be on the increase, not just for our county but every county throughout West Virginia.
“If we had that money, we could provide more services for the people in the county.
“The real issue,” she added, “is we have a decline in our coal revenue, and that has been a mess.” …