Monongalia County voters to decide on 4 levies and a bond

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — When voters in Monongalia County go to the polls on Tuesday, May 14, they’ll have the opportunity to decide on the fate of four levies and a Board of Education bond.

Levies and bonds fund public projects and infrastructure through property tax increases, including Class I personal property, Class II owner-occupied residential property, and Class III and Class IV other types of property that are situated outside or inside of a municipality.

Board of Education Bond

The Monongalia County Board of Education is seeking a bond of $142,640,000 to fund a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Career Technical Education (CTE) training center called the Renaissance Academy . The facility would primarily be for students in grades 9 through 12, but would also provide adult education programs and training.

The money, according to a sample ballot, would be used to plan, develop, acquire, design, build, construct, equip and furnish the building for the Renaissance Academy.

Mass Transit Levy

Mountain Line Transit Authority is requesting an excess levy because it says no other funding sources have become available to the transit system since the first transit levy was passed in 2016, so it’s requesting to continue the levy.

Mountain Line said on its website it will use $1.2 million of the funds to provide evening and weekend service and grow to new areas, $500,000 to purchase new vehicles and $456,500 to replace the loss of county contribution.

The transit authority said that a reasonable increase in fares “isn’t going to cover the costs needed to provide service” and that fare increases have “a negative effect on ridership.”

If the levy is not passed, Mountain Line said it will need to revert to pre-2016 service levels, with routes running mostly Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with limited weekend service.

Click here for more information about the levy from Mountain Line.

Library Levy

Renewing the library levy, according to Monongalia County sample ballots, would raise $551,770 annually for the library system and $2,207,080 during the term of the levy.

Fire Levy

Between fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2028-2029, the fire levy would raise a total of approximately $3,477,488 for Monongalia County volunteer fire departments, the Monongalia County Hazardous Incident Response Team, the Monongalia County Brush Fire Team, the Mononglia County Volunteer Fire Companies Association and the City of Morgantown Fire Department.

Earlier this year , the Morgantown Fire Department asked the Monongalia County Commission to add language to the ballot allowing it to access excess levy funds.

Parks and Trails Levy

If passed, $1,172,643 annually will go to the funding and maintaining Parks, Trails, and Recreation programs for a total of $4,690,572 over four years. According to a sample ballot, the funds will go to operations, expenses, and other capital improvements for Camp Muffly Park, Chestnut Ridge Park, Mason-Dixon Historical Park, Mon River and Deckers Creek Rail-Trails, WV Botanic Garden, Westover Park Baseball Facilities, Cheat Lake and Laurel Point Soccer Fields and BOPARC.

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