By Rachel Weaver
Washington County commissioners and business owners coined a term for Western Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale epicenter: “Job Land.”
“We are the model all of Southwestern Pennsylvania is trying to emulate,” Commissioner Larry Maggi told elected officials and business leaders gathered at Southpointe on Thursday.
Development, spurred largely by the expansion of the natural gas industry, has put Washington County in prime position to invest in the region’s continued growth, officials said.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked the county as third in the nation in percentage of employment growth for its jump of 4.3 percent over the past year. During that time, 45 new or expanded business projects accounted for more than $198 million in capital investment in the county, commissioners said. Nearly half of those projects are related to the Marcellus shale-gas industry.
The county has the third-most wells in the state, behind Tioga and Bradford counties, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. In 2011, companies drilled 160 wells in Washington County and obtained 241 permits.
Revenue from business growth has allowed officials to allocate the county’s share of gambling money from The Meadows Racetrack & Casino to community and industrial development projects, commissioners said.
Washington County’s Local Share Account, funded by the state tax on gambling, provided $46.3 million for more than 150 projects during the past five years. Matching money from federal, state and local sources totaled more than $233 million, Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan said.
The projects include business parks, such as Alta Vista Business Park in Fallowfield and StarPointe Business Park in Hanover, and a free job-preparedness program offered to county residents and employers.
Yet, although the region is growing, assessment appeals cut property tax collections somewhat, Vaughan said.
“It’s not quite a direct line,” she said. “We can see more corporations paying taxes, but that’s offset by a number of assessments that have been lowered. You have to look at the whole package.”
More money could come if commissioners opt to impose the optional fee on gas drillers that state lawmakers approved this month. The county’s solicitor is reviewing a draft ordinance, she said.
“It’s something Washington County needs to do, to be responsible to raise revenue for the impact the industry has had on our communities,” Vaughan said.
Commissioner Harlan Shober Jr. said if the county opts not to enforce the fee, “no money comes back to the county.”
“It’s like the hand you’re dealt in the card game,” he said. “We didn’t make the law. It would be prudent that the money be used for people in Washington County.”
State officials estimate that the fee will raise $180.5 million statewide this year from wells drilled in 2011 or earlier and that collections statewide will rise to $355 million by 2015.
Washington County’s shale wells stand to bring in $23.4 million in fees. The county and its municipalities would divide up 60 percent of that and forward the rest to the state.
Expanding the water and sewage system and repairing roadways are the biggest needs, commissioners said.
NOTE: Click HERE to view this story online.
