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Manchin said that, barring some major technical flaw in the bill, he will sign into law legislation (SB237) that allows cities to increase hotel-motel occupancy taxes from the current 3 percent to as much as 6 percent. He said the legislation is consistent with his efforts to give local governments, particularly in border cities and counties, more flexibility to compete with neighboring states. Manchin said he trusts that city councils will make decisions that best serve their municipalities, based on competition and market conditions. Besides, he said, "It's mostly out-of-state people who pay the tax." In Charleston, Mayor Danny Jones has said he intends to use much of the additional $1 million in annual revenue to recruit conventions and conferences to the city. Manchin was less enthusiastic about legislation to give pay raises to Supreme Court justices, circuit judges, family court judges and magistrates. "As I've said before, I want everybody to be patient and wait until a special session," said Manchin, who said the judicial pay raise bill (SB514) has not yet reached his desk. The governor said he recognizes there are unique circumstances to the judicial pay raises, since the judicial branch budget is essentially independent of the executive and legislative branches. However, he agreed that signing the pay raise bill could make it more difficult to persuade voters to support a June 25 referendum to authorize the sale of up to $5.5 billion in bonds to retire pension fund deficits. "I want people to have confidence that we've gotten our financial house in order," he said. Besides a potential backlash from the public over the size of the proposed raises -- ranging from $26,000 for Supreme Court justices and circuit judges to $10,000 for magistrates -- passage of the bill would increase shortfalls in the Judicial Retirement System, since judicial pensions, under current law, equal to 75 percent of salaries for sitting judges. Manchin said he will head up an extensive "educational campaign" to convince voters to support the constitutional amendment to allow the state to refinance pension fund debts. Manchin has said he would prefer to wait until a special session in August or September to deal with pay and benefits for all state employees and teachers. "We're looking at a complete evaluation of the economy of West Virginia," he said. "Everything will be tied into compensation and benefit levels." Manchin said Thursday he would anticipate pay raises approved in the special session would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2006. The governor made the comments following a bill-signing ceremony for legislation (SB744) that clarifies when workers can sue employers for workplace injuries. The legislation sets limits on a 1970s Supreme Court ruling, specifying that employers can be held liable for unsafe working conditions only if they had "actual knowledge" of those conditions prior to the workplace injury. ----- To see more of The Charleston Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wvgazette.com. Copyright (c) 2005, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected]. |
| Also See: | Hotel tax bill advances in Senate (The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.) / February 2005 |
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Hotel-motel
tax factions have same goal (The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.) /
March 2005 |