CVI Moving Out of Tucker

By JULIEANNE COOPER, Staff Writer

Canaan Valley Institute’s governing board has voted unanimously to pull out of Tucker County and move its organization and services to another part of the state. But, the agency has no plans of selling the property. CVI’s President Karen Bonner told The Inter-Mountain today that the board’s decision was “due to the tax situation” which still has not been resolved.

Bonner said the tax assessment handed down by the Tucker County Assessor was simply too much for a non-profit organization to pay. In addition to paying taxes on the property alone, Bonner said CVI was considering building a $20 million complex that would be used for research and other aspects of the agency.

Bonner said the taxes on property and future the complex would be entirely too much for CVI’s budget. “We’re not going to have enough funds to operate,” if CVI is required to pay large tax assessment each year, she said.

“It’s unfortunate because we really wanted to stay in Tucker County,” Bonner said.

Bonner said at this point, she is not sure where CVI may move. “We do not have a location picked out. We hope it will still be in West Virginia.”

CVI’s Executive Director Kiena Smith said the $196,000 tax assessment was the deciding factor. “We just cannot pay that tax and stay here,” she said.

Smith said CVI was handed a tax bill for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 which she said has dramatically increased each year. She said the tax was levied on CVI land holdings at a commercial rate.

Because of its nonprofit status — “obviously we make no profit” — Smith said CVI is trying to appeal the state Tax Department’s ruling in Tucker County Circuit Court. She said if CVI does not win within the county court, it will take its case before the state and federal levels.

CVI officials met with the Tucker County Commission in April to ask for cooperation in settling the tax assessment. Smith said during the commission meeting that because CVI is a non-profit corporation, it simply could not afford a heavy tax assessment per year on its open land.

“A yearly tax burden such as this ... would force us to relocate and this is not what we want,” Smith said adding that if CVI must relocate, not only would its environmental restoration and capacity-building work in Tucker County come to an end, but also many of its employees would be forced to relocate. Since CVI purchased the property, Smith said the land has always been open for public use, for hiking, biking, fishing, hunting and other recreational activities. She said because it was open land, that was the agency’s downfall.

“Because we left (the property) open to the public, our reason for being a non-profit for science and educational purpose got shelved aside,” Smith said. If CVI were to restrict public access, that would have solved the tax situation which was not the solution, Smith said. “You do not want to lock that property up. You want to keep it open and that’s what we want to do.”

In 2001, with money from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NAOA), CVI purchased 3,200 acres near Davis from Allegheny Power where it planned to construct an education and research center, similar to a rural college campus where individuals would participate in training programs and workshops.

But with the board’s decision, that facility will also be built elsewhere. Construction was scheduled to begin in June, according to Smith. But on April 6, CVI officially stopped all activities because of the taxes levied on its property.

Smith said the facility would not only have housed CVI staff but also provided an area for visiting faculty and scientists. The center would have included classrooms, an auditorium and research laboratories.

Smith said the complex would have also brought much-needed jobs to the county, not only for the construction phase but also permanent, year-round employment. And once operational, the center would have required housekeeping, catering and maintenance as well as professional and support staff.

Smith said the complex and acreage had also attracted the attention of the National Youth Science Foundation (NYSF) which was considering constructing a permanent, year-round camp for youth science education. And although CVI may be moving out of town, Smith said the corporation still intends to sell a piece of its property to NYSF — if there’s still and interest.