Moundsville City Council has unanimously approved two ordinances reducing the Business & Occupation Tax for new businesses locating or relocating to the area.

The two ordinances were passed during the Tuesday, Jan. 21 city council meeting. The first ordinance is a city-wide B&O tax exemption for certain new businesses in the city, while the second ordinance provides B&O tax exemptions for new businesses in the On-Trac District.

The first ordinance offers a five-year exemption of B&O tax for any employer locating or relocating to the city with at least 51 full-time employees. Businesses with fewer than 51 employees will be discounted as follows: 41-50 employees receive an 80% reduction, 31-40 employees receive a 60% reduction, 21-30 employees receive a 40% reduction and 11-20 employees receive a 20% reduction.

While the city already has a B&O tax exemption ordinance for businesses coming to the city, City Manager Rick Healy said the new city-wide ordinance would benefit smaller businesses that relocate to the area. The current ordinance that provides B&O tax exemptions for businesses locating to the city provides a 100% exemption for a business that retains at least 500 permanent full-time employees, with the exemption decreasing by 20% for every 100 fewer employees a business has. The exemption applies for the first 10 years a business is in the city.

“With Moundsville in the state that it is land-wise, it’s going to be extremely difficult for us to see an employer come in that will bring a large number of employees,” Healy said. “So we opted to take that [original] ordinance and just lowered the number of employees it takes to be eligible.”

The second ordinance relates to new businesses coming to the On-Trac District, further defined as Jefferson Avenue from Second Street to Fifth Street and the Strand Theatre. This ordinance will offer a 100% reduction in B&O taxes in year one, a 50% reduction in year two and a 25% reduction in year three.

Healy said both ordinances were created to entice business development in Moundsville and further development in the Historic Business District. He added that city leadership wanted to “encourage and develop” business on Jefferson Avenue between Second Street and Fifth Street.

“We felt that this would be a great opportunity to kick off On-Trac by providing this tax exemption,” Healy noted. “This ordinance also provides a complete exemption in the first year, which is the most difficult year for new businesses.”

Healy said the city was in the process of performing a “complete inventory” of the storefronts in the On-Trac district and noted “a couple of locations” were currently for sale on Jefferson Avenue.

“We’re hoping that maybe this might sway somebody to come to one of those open locations,” Healy said.

Any new employer seeking to qualify for either program can contact the City Manager’s office to apply. Healy said the city meets with all new business owners coming to the area and encourages potential business owners to call or visit the City Manager’s office to explain their situation and see if the city can assist them as they get started in the city.

“That first year of business is the most difficult for a new business to survive, so we are giving businesses a break that helps them get through the first year,” Healy said. “The B&O tax is a very low percentage tax, so it’s not a large amount of money, but it could allow that business to save that money and put it towards something else.”