Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV
February 21, 2012
Foresight to annex industrial park brings tax funds into Welch

By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

WELCH — When the late Martha Moore fought several years ago to have the then still undeveloped Indian Ridge Industrial Park annexed into the city limits of Welch, it was a calculated gamble based upon the prospect of future growth.

Today, a good year after the first inmates were incarcerated at the new FCI McDowell facility, the city is reaping benefits from Moore’s foresight. New tax revenue, including business and occupational taxes from companies providing goods and services to the federal prison, are adding up for Welch.

“We got a huge chunk of money from the construction of the prison and the B&O (taxes) paid by the contractors,” City Attorney Danny Barie said. “But we continue to get a continuous stream from those folks who are providing goods and services to the prison. None of that would have happened had it not been for Martha Moore and her foresight in seeking the annexation of that property from the county commission. We annexed it when it was empty land — when we didn’t know we would be getting a prison. She pursued that very vigorously.”

The federal prison was opened in the summer of 2010, and the first inmates arrived later that year. It is located near the future interchange of the Coalfields Expressway and the King Coal Highway at the Indian Ridge Industrial Park.

“It would be very difficult to meet our budget needs if we didn’t have the prison now,” Barie said. “We get significant revenue now from B&O taxes from those vendors because of the construction of that prison. We wouldn’t have had over a 100 structures that we were able to demolish without that prison. We wouldn’t have had the Martha Moore Riverfront Park if it wasn’t for that prison. A lot of positive things wouldn’t have happened if it would not have been for the location of FCI McDowell. The prison has been a very good neighbor to the community.”

Barie said a national hotel chain is now giving serious consideration to the Welch area. The proposed development would provide 60 plus additional rooms for the county — helping to accommodate visitors and vendors to the federal prison system.

“It increases restaurant business when you have a hotel,” Gordon Lambert, president of the McDowell County Commission, said. “It picks up 22 percent. Without a motel schools can’t have reunions. Families can’t have reunions. If they are going to stay someplace else, they eat someplace else. That’s all things we lose.”

While the prison has been a financial help to the city and the county, many of its employees continue to live outside of the county due in part to a lack of available housing. That’s a concern, Lambert said.

“They don’t pay taxes here and they don’t shop here,” Lambert said. “Hopefully we are going to correct some of that and get some housing in to fit their lifestyle and that sort of thing. You can have all kinds of jobs, but if they don’t pay taxes here and don’t spend their money here, it doesn’t help you.”

Lambert said several housing projects are still in the planning stages for the county, including a project on Tom’s Mountain as well as the development of several condos planned in the Welch area.

Barie said the inmates incarcerated at FCI McDowell also should count when the 2020 Census is completed. He said the city just missed having the inmates included in the 2010 Census.

“I think it (the prison) will also give some emphasis on extending the Coalfields Expressway,” Barie said. “This will give an extra push to get that going. And we are working now on a water and sewer extension project to bring water to the rest of that flat area at the industrial park. But we wouldn’t have been able to get water and sewer to the park if it hadn’t been for the prison.”

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

Martha Moore did so much for the city of Welch, always had its best interest at heart. She was a blessing, RIP Martha