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Wheeling’s user fee now in effect

WHEELING — As dawn rises on a new decade, a new fee has been introduced in the Friendly City — a few days ahead of schedule, in fact, as Wheeling’s $2 weekly user fee applies retroactively to the start of this week.

Finance Director Seth McIntyre said Monday that the fee would apply to the entire week, rather than being divided into the half of the week to which the fee would apply.

“The fee is not prorated over days of the week,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre clarified that, should someone have stopped working in the city on Dec. 31, they will not have the fee deducted from their paycheck. However, anyone employed in the city beginning today will.

“The fee applies to the whole week, starting Jan. 1, assuming someone worked Jan 1, 2 and 3.”

City Manager Robert Herron said the fee may not show up on workers’ pay stubs until later in the month.

“It is effective Jan. 1 but may not show up on an employee’s pay stub until their second pay of the month. Please keep in mind that there are many different ways/times/pay periods utilized by employers, so timing is unique to each employer, but generally the above should be the norm to begin with,” Herron said.

McIntyre said the city had a smooth process implementing the user fee, fielding several questions, but with people generally leaving satisfied.

“We’ve had a fair amount of phone calls and emails with questions, but as far as I can tell, those have been successfully answered,” he said. “It seems like it’s been going fairly well. … We’ve had all our documentation available to the world.”

Wheeling City Council passed an ordinance to enact the fee in a 5-1 vote in August, with Councilman Ken Imer casting the only “no” vote. The user fee is expected to affect as many as 16,000 people who work in Wheeling. The tax could generate more than $1.6 million annually for the city, with each worker contributing $104 annually.

The fee applies to all full-time, part-time and self-employed workers who work for at least 30 days per year at a job within Wheeling’s city limits.

The revenue generated by the fee will go to infrastructure improvements in the city, as well as toward a proposed public safety building to house the city’s fire and police departments. On Dec. 17, council voted to allow a purchase option for land at the corner of 19th and Jacob streets, paying businessman Frank Calabrese $150,000 for the property, with another $195,000 in escrow for environmental remediation of the site. The city next would seek a federal Brownfields remediation grant to clean up the site. If successful in receiving the grant, the city would turn over the $195,000 in escrow to Calabrese.

Council will discuss the purchase option over the next several months. Councilman Dave Palmer has said that voting to approve the option gave the city site control for 90 days after the vote, which would allow more in-depth discussion of the needs of the property.

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