Concerns raised over lagging tax revenue collections from new Berkeley County residents

BERKELEY COUNTY, W.Va. ( DC News Now ) — West Virginia’s eastern panhandle is home to the state’s fastest-growing county, Berkeley County, which makes it challenging to collect taxes from all the new residents who fail to reregister their vehicles from their previous home state.

The Berkley County sheriff said he is dedicating more resources to ensuring new residents are in compliance. It is estimated that $8 million from tax collections can fund public schools.

“They had $8 million that they brought into compliance recently, and I think that’s important because the funding that we receive from those registrations goes to the state but comes back to the county, and the county uses it for programs here that are necessary,” said eastern panhandle resident S. Marshall Wilson.

Collecting the vehicle tax has proven challenging because new West Virginia residents may own cars or trucks for a year or more before their out-of-state registrations expire.

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