photo by: Steven Allen Adams

Members of the Board of Public Works, led by Gov. Jim Justice, met Tuesday and received the tentative tax assessments for public utilities.

CHARLESTON — The annual process of finalizing property tax rates for large utilities in West Virginia began Tuesday morning when the Board of Public Works received tentative tax assessments from the state Tax Division.

The Board of Public Works consists of Gov. Jim Justice and the state’s elected constitutional officers: Secretary of State Mac Warner, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt, State Auditor J.B. McCuskey, and State Treasurer Riley Moore, who was represented Tuesday by a staff member. State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt is also a member of the Board of Public Works.

According to Tax Commissioner Matthew Irby, the tentative assessed value of public service business property for tax year 2025 beginning next year is more than $15 billion, representing an increase of more than $884 million in assessed value compared to tax year 2024 of more than $14.1 billion. That’s a 6.25% increase from tax year 2024 and a 13.64% increase from tax year 2023.

The Board of Public Works could hear tax assessment appeals from utility companies as soon as November with final assessment values to be approved in January 2025.

“This kicks off the more formalized process of valuing these, so you’ll come back in about a month and a half or so to hear protests of those values, and then finalize those values,” Irby told the board.

Although most real and personal property is assessed at the local level by county assessors with county commissions approving the final rates, the Board of Public Works approves the real and personal property values of public utilities whose properties stretch across two or more counties. Rather than have each of the 55 assessors determine the value, the property is appraised and assessed by the Tax Division.

The owner or operator of every public utility is required to file a report with the state tax commissioner no later than May 1 itemizing the utility’s property for the previous calendar year in detail set out by law. The tax commissioner reviews the reports, obtains any additional information needed, sets the tentative assessment for each utility and mails a copy to the owner or operator of the utility.

The Tax Division must deliver the tentative assessments to the Board of Public Works by Sept. 15 and the board then orders the assessments at a meeting to be held no later than Oct. 1.

The types of utilities include airlines, private bridge owners, bus companies, electric providers, natural gas providers, non-cellular communication (paging services), railroads and carlines, pipelines, cell phone companies, private sewer services, landline telephone services, underground gas storage, water and water/sewer services.

The largest increase in tentative public utility assessment status was buses, which increased by 54.7%, from $2.5 million in tax year 2024 to $3.8 million for the tax year 2025 tentative assessment.

The largest increase by dollar amount was the tentative assessments for electric utilities, from $6.5 billion in tax year 2024 to $7.2 billion for the tentative tax year 2025 assessment — an increase of $749.6 million.