BEVERLY — The Randolph County Commission will host a Public Town Hall Meeting regarding Constitutional Amendment 2, which will be decided on by West Virginia voters in November’s General Election.

The meeting will be Wednesday at 4-H Camp Pioneer in the Assembly Hall building and is scheduled to get under way at 6 p.m. It will feature representatives from the West Virginia Association of Counties and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

Those two groups will be on hand to answer questions regarding the amendment, which would give the West Virginia Legislature authority over the property taxes that currently fund county governments, school boards and emergency services.

Randolph County Commissioner Cris Siler said the commission scheduled this meeting so that the public could learn more about the amendment, which will appear on the November ballot.

“We want the community to know what this could possibly do to our county if it passes in November,” Siler told The Inter-Mountain Thursday. “We just want everyone to understand what this amendment is all about.”

If passed, Amendment 2 would allow the Legislature to reduce or eliminate property taxes on business machinery, equipment and inventory. The revenue from those taxes currently goes to fund county governments, school boards and emergency services.

“It’s going to take away over $4 million of revenue from Randolph County each year,” Siler said. “Something like three million of that goes to the county, while the remainder of it goes to the schools.”

Siler said the Randolph County commissioners are against Amendment 2, adding he doesn’t know a county commissioner in the state that is currently for it.

“The amendment is an extremely bad idea,” Siler said. “Basically they are just taking the power from the counties and giving it to the state Legislature to make decisions. And there is no guarantee that they are going to get rid of the personal property taxes on your vehicle, like they are saying. All it is doing is giving the Legislature the right to make that decision if they so desire to do it. And that doesn’t mean that they will.”

Another thing that concerns Siler is the funds the Legislature is planning on giving the counties to make up for lost revenue

“The Legislature down in Charleston promised to make us whole by giving us money to supplement that loss,” Siler said. “But they can’t do that for an extended period of time. I was told they were going to do it as long as it takes and as long as they have to. But then I was told by other people who have been down there that they’re only planning to do it for five years.

“If they can even do it for five years, we’re going to be in trouble after that unless we increase property taxes and make people who own property pick up the load for lost revenue. And even then, it’s not going to be enough to make up for the $4 million we are going to lose.”

Siler said another idea the Legislature is considering making up the lost revenue by having each county add a 1% sales tax.

“That bad thing is that Charleston doesn’t really even know how we are going to make this money up and get through this,” he said. “They are saying that they will supplement us with money for five years, but there is no guarantee that will even happen.”

Supporters of the amendment believe that it will increase economic development and promote business growth.

“I’m OK with getting rid of or reducing some of the taxes on businesses, but I think it should be left up to a county to do,” Siler said. “I don’t think the state should be making decisions for the local government. They are trying to take all the power away and transfer everything down to the Legislature and let them make the decisions. And I don’t think they always make the best decisions for Randolph County.”

Siler said he understands why the amendment may seem appealing to some voters, but insists that it’s a terrible idea.

“I know a lot of people are going to see that they may not have to pay personal property taxes and they are going to vote yes for it, but it’s going to cripple the county,” Siler said. “It’s going to make it to where we have to reduce funding for other projects and other programs that we fund right now.”