CHARLESTON – State Treasurer John Perdue’s office distributed $1.3 million in coal severance taxes to Boone County commissioners, the largest amount any county received in the third quarter of 2009.
The Treasury disbursed a total of $7.6 million in total coal severance tax money, $5.7 million to the actual coal-producing counties. The rest of the top five, based on coal tonnage mined and rounded to zeros:
- Logan County, $697,000
- Raleigh County, $504,000
- Marion County, $458,000
- Mingo County, $355,000
Under state code, 75 percent of coal severance taxes go to counties which actually mine coal. The other 25 percent is split along county and city population lines, whether the county in which it is situated mines much coal or not. The total in that category came to $1.2 million. The top five counties, under the population criteria, were:
- Kanawha County, $103,000
- Berkeley County, $64,000
- Raleigh County, $62,000
- Monongalia County, $51,000
- Cabell County, $46,000
A portion of that 25 percent also goes to cities, based on population. The top five cities, from a pool of $679,000, were:
- Charleston, $56,000
- Huntington, $50,000
- Parkersburg, $35,000
- Wheeling, $33,000
- Morgantown, $28,000
To view the total coal severance list, go to www.wvtreasury.com, click on “Services,” then go to “Revenue Distribution.”