H. B. 2883
(By Delegate Warner, Farris, Frederick,
Seacrist, Facemyer and Walters)
(Originating in the Committee on Finance)
[April 1, 1997]
A BILL to amend article one-c, chapter eleven of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten-a,
relating to the appraisal of coal reserves.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one-c, chapter eleven of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten- a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. FAIR AND EQUITABLE PROPERTY VALUATION.
§ 11-1C-10a. Valuation of inactive coal reserves.
In order to assure stability in the property tax base, to
avoid uncertainty in the assessment and collection of property
taxes that could result from legal challenges relating to the
valuation of inactive coal reserves, and to provide for the
thoughtful and thorough development of a method for the valuation
of inactive coal reserves to be presented to the legislature during the next regular session, the llLegislature hereby declares:
(1) For tax year one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, the
regional minable reserve coal value per seam acre shall be four
hundred dollars in region one, two hundred dollars in region two,
three hundred seventy-five dollars in region three, four hundred
dollars in region four, and four hundred fifty-dollars in region
five.
(2) For tax years one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight and one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, the regional mineable reserve coal value per
seam acre shall be four hundred dollars in region one, two
hundred dollars in region two, three hundred fifty dollars in
region three, three hundred seventy-five dollars in region four,
and six hundred dollars in region five.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to provide stability in
the valuation of inactive reserve coal property for tax years
1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 while a new methodology is developed
for consideration by the Legislature during the 1998 Regular
Session.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.