THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
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Wednesday March 16, 2016
Volume 128, Issue 115
www.THEDAONLINE.com
Tobacco tax affects state revenue by corey mcdonald staff writer @coreymacc
Senate Bill 420—which would raise taxes on all tobacco products—was stalled in the House Finance Committee this past legislative session. However, there is still a chance for a recovery in a special legislative session this spring, and its implications would be tremendous for the state but devastating for one specific business. The bill passing in its current form would mean a $1 excise tax rate increase on cigarette packs, raising it from 0.55 cents to $1.55,
and a 7 percent increase on smokeless tobacco on top of the current 7 percent rate. This increase would be in addition to the 6 percent sales tax for the state. The passing of this bill would be critical in a time of financial desperation for the state, according to multiple analysts and economists. “We estimate that the $1 increase will generate more than $100 million (in tax revenue),” said John Deskins, director of the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research. “We think maybe $130 million or so is the best-case scenario; right around $100 million is the
worst-case scenario, depending on how much people respond to the overall change.” Deskins and a team of economic researchers recently published a study that considered this proposed tax rate increase and its effect on the state budget, which is currently suffering from a $380 million shortfall. The 7 percent increase on smokeless tobacco would also generate revenue on its own: an additional $10 million, according to a report by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Along with potentially increasing state revenues,
the imposed tax would also incentivize people to try to quit smoking, which in turn would ease the burden of taxpayer-funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. West Virginia has one of the highest rates of adults who smoke in the country, at 26.7 percent, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s well known that tobacco products cause a number of different ailments—emphysema, higher rates of cancer and higher mortality rates— but the fiscal damage is not usually taken into account. There is $1.3 billion in additional health care costs im-
MAYOR RECUSED
Citing conflict of interest, Shamberger recuses herself from voting on budget
posed on taxpayers through social healthcare programs, according to a report by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. “At that point, you actually start seeing some public health benefits,” said Sean O’Leary, analyst for the WV Center on Budget and Policy. “A reduction in smoking translates into savings in the long term.” Even if the population is prompted to quit smoking, the decline in tobacco use would have a minimal effect on the revenue: the estimate reflects an anticipated 14 percent decline in cigarette purchases attributable to
staff writer @rachelgmcb
ASKAR SALIKHOV/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
by jake jarvis staff writer @newsroomjake
C
ity council narrowly approved its 2016-17 fiscal budget last night (4-2), without the help of Mayor Marti Shamberger. Councilmen Ron Bane and Wes Nugent voted in the minority. Shamberger, after receiving mixed advice from the city’s attorney that the state’s Ethics Commission has issued somewhat conflicting opinions, recused herself from voting on the budget. “Has this been a formal thing, or did this just come up?” asked Councilman Ron Bane, who usually votes in opposition to Shamberger. “Did someone give you some sort of document? Or are we just going on some sort of allegation? I don’t understand.” Shamberger’s husband, Thomas Shamberger, is the director of the central business office in the Division of Finance, according to West Virginia University’s online directory. The city allocated $25,000 to WVU for a Safe Communities partnership. City Manager Jeff Mikorski said the mayor was contacted and told she might have a conflict of interest because of her husband’s job. After Shamberger stepped out of the room and Bill Kawecki assumed
temporary chair of the meeting, other council members worried they, too, had a conflict of interest. Wes Nugent is employed by WVU in the Extension Services Office, which wouldn’t receive direct funding from the budget, as a professional technologist. Jenny Selin said she also used to be employed by WVU. The city’s attorney, Ryan Simonton, pointed to several somewhat-differing opinions the Ethics Commission issued in the past. The opinions, Simonton said, attempt to prevent someone from using a public office for private gain. “In general,” he said, “there’s no private gain when there’s no money directed to the council member.” One, issued in 2014, opines that County Commission members may vote on appropriating funds to local Boards of Education when the board employs their spouses. In another opinion, issued in 2013, the Commission advised that city councilors could vote on giving property to Boards of Education when the board employs their spouses. But in a 2006 opinion, the Commission found that a mayor, as an employee of a state university, should have recused themself when voting on awarding the University
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INSIDE
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong to perform at Mainstage A&E PAGE 4
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News: 1, 2 Opinion: 3 A&E: 4, 5 Sports: 7, 8, 10 Campus Calendar: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 9
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Bill Kawecki argues with Wes Nugent over procedural matters at the Morgantown City Council meeting on Tuesday evening. funds. “I don’t believe this type of thing is a conflict because we make partnerships with WVU and we share a number of issues,” Selin said.” No other council members recused themselves from voting on the budget. “She’s not going to walk away with a check in her hand or anything like that,” Ron Bane said of Shamberger. At one point, it appeared there would be a stalemate between three councilors who previously voted for the budget (Kawecki, Ganz and Selin) and three council members who hadn’t (Bane, Nugent and Redmond). Redmond ultimately flipped his decision and voted in favor of the budget. Also Tuesday evening, city council approved 6-1
the list of 72 streets the city will pave in the coming year. Money for paving those streets will cost about $2.5 million, all of which comes from the user fee implemented at the beginning of the year. Nancy Ganz voted against the list. She felt that some streets were more in need than streets higher up on the list. The list of streets was ranked based on the most in need of paving, traffic conditions and visibility to the city. That information came from 2010, the year that city interns walked each street “at least three times,” according to Damien Davis, city engineer. City Council will meet again at 7 p.m. on March 29 for its monthly committee meeting. jajarvis@mail.wvu.edu
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RAW MILK BILL Consuming whole milk is dangerous to public health OPINION PAGE 3
see tobacco on PAGE 2
WVU Libraries host symposium honoring first female WVU graduate by rachel mcbride
Mayor Marti Shamberger presides over the Morgantown City Council special meeting on Tuesday e vening.
the higher tax rate, according to the study conducted by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research. The proposed legislation has some negative effects as well. The regressive tax would have a larger burden on low income families or individuals. Even so, the tax would not have a significant effect on individuals’ financial livelihoods. “For the bottom 20 percent of West Virginia, so those earning less then $19,000 a year—now not all of them smoke—but on average the tax increase would be about $100 per year,”
This May marks 125 years since Harriet Lyon became the first woman to graduate from West Virginia University. In her honor and legacy, a symposium hosted by WVU Libraries March 15-17 will explore Lyon’s journey through earning a higher education and the progression for women since her revolutionary accomplishment. Carroll Wilkinson, director of strategic library initiatives for WVU Libraries, said Lyon and her peers faced discrimination from their classmates and other individuals on campus who did not agree with allowing a woman to receive a college degree. “Most people treated (female students) like outsiders,” Wilkinson said. “It was an exclusively male environment, and they felt strange.” The three-day program, which is free and open to the public, builds upon the work of the celebration of the Centenary of women’s graduation in 1991. The event is also meant to bring awareness to the challenges and discrimination that some women still face on and off college campuses. “This whole idea where women enter fields where they make up 5 percent or less are areas that we need to look at,” Wilkinson said. Wilkinson collaborated with librarians and library staff to create a lineup of a lecture, a forum, a panel discussion, a workshop, exhibits and a student poster session for the symposium. Activities began at 4 p.m. yesterday with an opening program in the Robinson Reading Room of the Charles C. Wise Library. Today there will be multiple presentations, a panel discussion, a poster session and a hands-on workshop. The keynote address from Regina Barreca, professor of English and feminist theory at University of Connecticut, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Milano Reading Room in the Charles C. Wise Library. The presentation is titled “Courage, Curiosity, and Conviction: Celebrating 125 Years of Educating
Women at WVU.” Additional programs on for today include “Breaking through a Glass Ceiling in Mathematics,” where Dr. Marjorie Darrah, associate professor of mathematics at WVU and the first woman to receive a PhD. in mathematics at WVU, will reflect on her experiences and changes at the University over the last 25 years. “A Discussion of the Triumphs & Tribulations of WVU Sisterhood during the Last Twenty-five Years” brings together panelists from throughout campus including Ethel Smith, associate professor of English; Martha Yancey, interim director of the Evansdale Library; Marjorie Fuller, director of the Center for Black Culture and Research; and Cathy Jasper, program coordinator. Among these programs, there will also be a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, which will provide training on writing for Wikipedia. Kelly Doyle, WVU Libraries’ Wikipedian-in-Residence for Gender Equity, will lead participants through creating an account to editing an existing article about a West Virginia woman or posting an original researched article with references on the online encyclopedia. Interested participants should bring their own laptops and mobile devices to the event. Wilkinson said she hopes students and faculty attending events will notice the change that has allowed women to advance educationally in the present as well as the possible change that could allow women to progress academically even more in the future. “We need women to know that they are standing on the shoulders of the women who have gone before them,” Wilkinson said. “We are celebrating change, but we still have some work to do.” Kaila Ilyes, junior business management student at WVU gave her opinion on what it is like to be a woman attending college in a predominately maleoriented STEM field. “I feel like men are still more pressured in society to be the main provider, and that makes the distri-
see first on PAGE 2
DREAM CHASERS WVU sets sights on deep NCAA Tournament run SPORTS PAGE 7