Mar 24, 2006 By Josh Krysak 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – The Greene County Commissioners announced a landmark deal Thursday, after negotiating a new system of assessing coal values that will create a financial windfall for the county, local municipalities and area school districts. The county’s tax assessment board reached the 10-year deal with CONSOL Energy Inc. that increases the valuation of coal properties by more than 50 percent in an agreement that will bring millions to the region in additional tax revenue.

The plan will increase assessed coal property values from about $275 million to about $428 million, creating a more consistent value and increasing countywide tax revenues about $3.5 million for the county, municipalities and school districts.

“It is going to be phenomenal,” Greene County Commission Chairwoman Pam Snyder said. She said that the West Greene School District alone will receive an additional $2.2 million in tax money this year.

“One of the most challenging aspects of coal valuation is the problem of annual depletions,” Snyder said. “Coal that is depleted every year is removed from the tax rolls, but new property is added to the active mine plan only when new permits are granted, once every five or six years.”

Snyder said that under the old plan, when a new permit was granted to a coal company assessed values would spike for that year and then decline rapidly, causing unstable assessment figures for tax claims.

“By using this new approach, not only will the county, school districts and municipalities get more tax revenue from coal but the irregularity of the revenue stream that occurred under the old system should be smoothed out, making budgeting a lot easier.”

The new agreement allows the assessment office to take all coal that might be mined into account when reviewing a property, greatly increasing the value of coalfields.

According to county Assessor H. John Frazier, the county will make an additional $805,000 in tax revenues under the plan, something Snyder said is good for the proposed projects across the region.

“Things are really falling into place in Greene County,” Snyder said.

The move comes just one week after the commissioners voted to float a $5.2 million bond issue to help plant seed money for water and sewage projects across the county.

An intergovernmental committee comprised of county representatives, USDA Rural Development officials and members of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) will help determine project feasibility and possible funding streams will operate the bond issue.

“What we want is to be able to give our communities leverage to gain state and federal funds,” Snyder said. “We are very excited about this and we hope it makes an impact on the county.”

Snyder said specific areas that would be affected by the new money are Cabbage Flats in the Southeastern Greene area, portions of Route 88 in Carmichaels, Lower Ten Mile in Jefferson and Waynesburg Borough, which has had problems with flood waters and their sewerage system.

“We want to touch every school district with this money in some capacity,” Snyder said.

She also noted that some of the bond issue would be used to help pay the county match needed for projects like the new county swimming pool and the bike trail, but added that the funds used for county projects should be reimbursed eventually through state and federal grants.

Snyder commended CONSOL for working with the county to construct the plan.

“This was a good faith effort on everyone’s part that resulted in a good solution for all the taxpayers of Greene County,” Snyder said.

The plan takes effect this year.

A spokesman for CONSOL could not be reached for comment.