In a unanimous decision, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled today that Webster County must pay its jail bill to the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority.
The high court decision requires Webster County to pay the $1.31 million dollar jail debt existing when the lawsuit was filed, plus any amounts that have accrued since then (now believed to be over $1.5 million). The decision "requires the Regional Jail to work out a payment plan with the Commission that allows the Commission to pay the past debt in installments over the course of a reasonable period of time."
The high court further rejected the County's various arguments about why it could not pay its jail bill. The Court said that " the facts of this case show only that the Commission has arbitrarily chosen not to make payments on the debt it owes the Regional Jail. Although we recognize the Commission may have encountered an unexpected loss in revenue from the coal industry, this situation is a statewide problem that is not peculiar to the Commission. Moreover, this Court does not have authority to decide what bills government entities can avoid paying, in times of financial belt tightening, because of revenue shortage from the coal industry. The issues raised by the Commission in this regard are matters for the Legislature to consider and resolve. Our duty is to apply the law, not reinvent it in order to allow a party to avoid payment of a debt."
The high court further rejected the County's various arguments about why it could not pay its jail bill. The Court said that " the facts of this case show only that the Commission has arbitrarily chosen not to make payments on the debt it owes the Regional Jail. Although we recognize the Commission may have encountered an unexpected loss in revenue from the coal industry, this situation is a statewide problem that is not peculiar to the Commission. Moreover, this Court does not have authority to decide what bills government entities can avoid paying, in times of financial belt tightening, because of revenue shortage from the coal industry. The issues raised by the Commission in this regard are matters for the Legislature to consider and resolve. Our duty is to apply the law, not reinvent it in order to allow a party to avoid payment of a debt."
Although it lost this case, there is some good news for Webster County. The Jail Authority asked the Court to order the State Tax Commissioner to give the Jail Authority the monies the Commissioner has been holding back from the County. The high court declined to order the Commissioner to turn over Webster's tax money simply because the Tax Commissioner was not a party to the lawsuit.
The Court's full opinion can be read at this link:
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