H. B. 2657


(By Delegates Laird and Pino)
[Introduced February 4, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then Finance.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section three-ff, article one, chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section two, article twenty-two, chapter eleven of said code, all relating to increasing the tax for the privilege of transferring property by adding five cents per five hundred dollars to such tax and to further create the establishment of a central fund from this tax increase to provide revenue to counties who incur clean-up costs for property, and authorizing counties to seek, receive and accept revenue from the central fund established pursuant to said amendments.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three-ff, article one, chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section two, article twenty-two, chapter eleven be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 7. COUNTY COMMISSIONS AND OFFICERS.

ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§7-1-3ff. Authority of county commission to enact ordinances
regulating the repair, alteration, improvement, vacating, closing, removal or demolition of unsafe or unsanitary structures and the clearance and removal of refuse, debris, overgrown vegetation, toxic spills or toxic seepage on private land; authority to create enforcement agency; procedure for complaints; promulgation of rules governing investigation and hearing of complaints; remedies for failure to comply with commission-ordered repairs or alterations; lien and sale of land to recover costs; entry on land to perform repairs and alterations or to satisfy lien; receipt of grants and subsidies.
(a) Plenary power and authority are hereby conferred upon every county commission to adopt ordinances regulating the repair, alteration or improvement or the vacating and closing or removal or demolition, or any combination thereof, of any dwellings or other buildings, except for buildings utilized for farm purposes on land actually being used for farming, unfit for human habitation due to dilapidation, defects increasing the hazard of fire, accidents or other calamities, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities or any other conditions prevailing in any dwelling or building, whether used for human habitation or not, which would cause such dwellings or other buildings to be unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous or detrimental to the public safety or welfare, whether the result of natural or manmade force or effect.
(b) Plenary power and authority are hereby conferred upon every county commission to adopt ordinances regulating the removal and clean up of any accumulation of refuse or debris, overgrown vegetation or toxic spillage or toxic seepage located on private lands which is deemed to be unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous or detrimental to the public safety or welfare whether the result of natural or manmade force or effect.
(c) The county commission in formally adopting such ordinances shall designate an enforcement agency, which shall consist of the county engineer (or other technically qualified county employee or consulting engineer), county health officer or his or her designee, a fire chief from a county fire company, and two members at large selected by the county commission to serve two-year terms. The county sheriff shall serve as an ex officio member of such enforcement agency and the county officer charged with enforcing the orders of the county commission under this section.
(d) Any ordinance adopted pursuant to the provisions of this section shall provide fair and equitable rules of procedure and any other standards deemed necessary to guide the enforcement agency, or its agents, in the investigation of dwelling or building conditions, accumulation of refuse or debris, overgrown vegetation or toxic spillage or toxic seepage, and shall provide for fair and equitable rules of procedure for instituting and conducting hearings in such matters before the county commission. Any entrance upon premises for the purpose of making examinations shall be made in such manner as to cause the least possible inconvenience to the persons in possession.
(e) Any county commission adopting ordinances authorized by this section shall hear and determine complaints of the enforcement agency. Complaints shall be initiated by petition of the county engineer (or other technically qualified county employee or consulting engineer) on behalf of and at the direction of the enforcement agency, but only after that agency has investigated and determined that any dwelling, building, accumulation of refuse or debris, overgrown vegetation or toxic spillage or toxic seepage is unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous or detrimental to the public safety or welfare and should be repaired, altered, improved, vacated, removed, closed, cleaned or demolished. The county commission shall cause the owner or owners of the private land in question to be served with a copy of the complaint. Service shall be accomplished in the manner provided in rule four of the West Virginia rules of civil procedure. The complaint shall state the findings and recommendations of the enforcement agency and that unless the owner or owners of the property file with the clerk of the county commission a written request for a hearing within ten days of receipt of the complaint, an order will be issued by the county commission implementing the recommendations of the enforcement agency. If the owner or owners of the property file a request for a hearing, the county commission shall issue an order setting this matter down for hearing within twenty days. Hearings shall be recorded by electronic device or by court reporter. The West Virginia rules of evidence do not apply to such proceedings, but each party has the right to present evidence and examine and cross examine all witnesses. The enforcement agency has the burden of proving its allegation by a preponderance of the evidence and has the duty to go forward with the evidence. At the conclusion of the hearing the county commission shall make findings of fact, determinations and conclusions of law as to whether the dwelling or building: Is unfit for human habitation due to dilapidation; has defects that increase the hazard of fire, accidents or other calamities, lacks ventilation, light or sanitary facilities; or any other conditions prevailing in the dwelling or building, whether used for human habitation or not, and whether the result of natural or manmade force or effect, which would cause such dwelling or other building to be unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous or detrimental to the public safety or welfare; or whether there is an accumulation of refuse or debris; overgrown vegetation; toxic spillage or toxic seepage on private lands which is deemed to be unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous or detrimental to the public safety or welfare, whether the result of natural or manmade force or effect. The county commission has authority to order the owner or owners thereof to repair, alter, improve, vacate, remove, close, clean up or demolish the dwelling or building in question or to remove or clean up any accumulation of refuse or debris, overgrown vegetation or toxic spillage or toxic seepage within a reasonable time and to impose daily civil monetary penalties on the owner or owners who fail to obey such an order. Appeals from the county commission to the circuit court shall be in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-eight of this code.
(f) Upon the failure of the owner or owners of the private land to perform the ordered duties and obligations as set forth in the order of the county commission, the county commission may advertise for and seek contractors to make the ordered repairs, alterations or improvements, or the ordered demolition, removal or clean up. The county commission may enter into any contract with any such contractor to accomplish the ordered repairs, alterations or improvements, or the ordered demolition, removal or clean up.
(g) A civil proceeding may be brought in circuit court by the county commission against the owner or owners of the private land which is the subject matter of the order of the county commission to subject the private land in question to a lien for the amount of the contractor's costs in making these ordered repairs, alterations or improvements, or ordered demolition, removal or clean up together with any daily civil monetary penalty imposed and reasonable attorney fees and court costs and to order and decree the sale of the private land in question to satisfy the lien, and to order and decree that the contractor may enter upon the private land in question at any and all times necessary to make improvements, or ordered repairs, alterations or improvements, or ordered demolition, removal or clean up. In addition, the county commission shall have the authority to institute a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the landowner or other responsible party for all costs incurred by the county with respect to the property and for reasonable attorney fees and court costs incurred in the prosecution of the action.
(h) County commissions have the power and authority to receive and accept grants, subsidies, donations and services in kind consistent with the objectives of this section.
(i) County commissions have the power to seek, receive and accept revenue from the county fund for clean-up of dilapidated and decaying structures established pursuant to section two, article twenty-two, chapter eleven of this code.
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.

ARTICLE 22. EXCISE TAX ON PRIVILEGE OF TRANSFERRING REAL PROPERTY.
§11-22-2. Rate of tax; when and by whom payable; establishment of fund with part of tax to finance the clean-up costs for dilapidated buildings; additional county tax.

Every person who delivers, accepts or presents for recording any document, or in whose behalf any document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording, shall be subject to pay for and in respect to the transaction or any part thereof, a state excise tax upon the privilege of transferring title to real estate at the rate of one dollar and ten cents one dollar and fifteen cents for each five hundred dollars' value or fraction thereof as represented by such document as defined in section one hereof, which state tax shall be payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of such document: Provided, That there is hereby created in the state treasury a special revenue account, which shall be an appropriated, interest-bearing account, designated as the county fund for clean-up of dilapidated and decaying structures. Provided, however, That five cents of each one dollar and fifteen cents that is collected shall be deposited into said fund.
 Effective the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty-eight and thereafter, there is hereby imposed an additional county excise tax for the privilege of transferring title to real estate at the rate of fifty-five cents for each five hundred dollars' value or fraction thereof as represented by such document as defined in section one hereof, which county tax shall be payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of such document: Provided, That after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, the county may increase said excise tax to an amount equal to the state excise tax. The additional tax hereby imposed is declared to be a county tax and to be used for county purposes: Provided, however, That only one such state tax and one such county tax shall be paid on any one document and shall be collected in the county where the document is first admitted to record, and the same shall be paid by the grantor therein unless the grantee accepts the same without such tax having been paid, in which event such tax shall be paid by the grantee: Provided further, That on any transfer of real property from a trustee or a county clerk transferring real estate sold for taxes, such tax shall be paid by the grantee.
The county excise tax imposed under this section may not be increased in any county unless the increase is approved by a majority vote of the members of the county commission of such county. Any county commission intending to increase the excise tax imposed in its county shall publish a notice of its intention to increase such tax not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days prior to the meeting at which such increase will be considered, such notice to be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area shall be the county in which such county commission is located.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the tax for the privilege of transferring property by adding five cents per five hundred dollars to such tax, all in order to create a county fund for clean-up of dilapidated and decaying structures.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.