Mayors talk community betterments

Mayors from across West Virginia met in Ohio County on Friday to discuss how to better serve their communities.

Representing Weirton, Mayor Mark Harris said some of the items discussed ranged from population decline, tax incentives and several others. He said this first meeting was held to assist the mayors in getting to know one another but each managed to bring concerns and suggestions to the table.

Harris said one of the issues affecting Weirton is having the local bars open until 3 a.m.

"We are getting a lot of traffic from Ohio and Pennsylvania where they close down at 2 (a.m.) and bars here don't close until 3 (a.m.) and they're already drunk and coming into our area causing problems," Harris said, noting other parts of the state do not have this problem.

Harris said there are not many cities in the southern part of the state that have to deal with competing with two other states on a regular basis. He said one suggestion from a mayor in the southern part of the state is raising the gas tax in order to have more funding for state roads and the local economy.

"Raising the gas tax works for them, but it hurts the economy up here," said Harris. "The residents here go to Ohio and Pennsylvania to purchase gas if the prices are too high in Weirton."

Harris also said offering tax incentives would benefit Weirton as well, but stated the effect on the southern part of the state is minimal. He said problems such as these hurt small businessess who depend on money spent in West Virginia.

"Some of the things that affect them don't affect us and vice versa," said Harris.

Harris said more meetings will be held to allow the mayors across the state to come together and work together to benefit the entire state.

(Dickson can be contacted at adickson@weirtondailytimes.com)