Economy Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

$1.2 Billion Grant To Expand Broadband Coverage To All W.Va. Homes

The U.S. Department of Commerce has granted West Virginia $1.2 billion for affordable broadband services. More than 300,000 West Virginia households were underserved by broadband in 2023.

Spotty internet access has long proven an issue for the mountainsides of West Virginia.

In 2023, more than 300,000 households across the state were unserved or underserved by broadband coverage. This month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found that coverage in the Mountain State ranks second-worst nationally, besting only Alaska.

But a new federal grant aims to address current gaps in coverage, ensuring that every household can receive broadband internet services.

On Thursday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) granted West Virginia more than $1.21 billion for high-speed internet services based on a plan first announced in 2023.

The funding comes from the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program — part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Joe Biden signed into effect in 2021.

These funds will go toward the creation of new broadband internet infrastructure in regions with low internet download and upload speeds.

West Virginia residents can anticipate improvements to their internet services between one-and-a-half and five years after funds are distributed, according to Evan Feinman, BEAD program director.

Specific timelines vary from region to region based on “proximity to existing infrastructure,” he said during a virtual press briefing Thursday.

State grants were determined based on current broadband coverage needs, and were finalized through a collaboration between state and federal officials, Feinman said.

This meant coordinating with the West Virginia Department of Economic Development’s Office of Broadband.

After an initial figure for the state’s grant was set by NTIA in 2023, state officials had to develop specific plans for how grant dollars would be spent, according to Kelly Collins Workman, the office’s director.

This included crafting a five-year plan for how improvements would be implemented, plus strategies for promoting digital equity across the state, she said.

When the “historic opportunity” to participate in the BEAD program came along, Collins Workman said her office “poured our heart and soul” into the application process “to secure $1.2 billion for our state.”

“We jumped in with both feet,” she said. “We worked as hard as we could, as fast as we could.”

Mitch Carmichael, cabinet secretary for the department, said the collaboration was crucial to expanding economic resources for West Virginians.

“When we connect people in every corner of our state — and every hill and every valley and every region — the world becomes a better place,” he said.

Carmichael emphasized that changes provided by the program would be sweeping. “This program will reach every address. Every single address,” he said.

The BEAD grant comes during a particularly tenuous moment for affordable internet services nationally, as funding for a federal internet subsidy program used widely in West Virginia is set to lapse this month.

Since 2021, the FCC has provided broadband internet subsidies to low-income households nationwide through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

More than 127,000 West Virginia households rely on the program for support. But a renewal of the program’s funding has failed to receive bipartisan support in Congress, despite pushes from Democratic lawmakers.

Feinman said ACP’s goals differ from those of the BEAD program. Where ACP provides households financial support to afford internet services, BEAD creates infrastructure so that it is possible to access the internet in the first place.

Still, Feinman said the two programs have overlapping missions, and that NTIA officials were “disappointed” by the program’s imminent expiration.

“A kid who grows up in a house with a reliable internet connection has a higher GPA, [and is] more likely to go to postsecondary education,” he said. “Elderly folks can age in place safely. There’s such tremendous benefits to having folks get online.”

Feinman said that the existence of subsidy programs like ACP gave way to the development of new broadband infrastructure programs like BEAD.

With more residents able to afford internet services, companies were encouraged to spread their infrastructure projects nationally, he said. This includes the rural and low-income communities targeted by programs like BEAD.

“The program going away is going to make it more expensive to build these networks,” Feinman said. “That said, we are still going to be able to get them to every single West Virginia home and business.”

While ACP’s renewal struggled to receive bipartisan support on the Senate floor, state officials’ praise for the BEAD program stretched across the aisle.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said that the BEAD program has provided important resources to residents across West Virginia. In a Thursday statement, he renewed his commitment to ensuring the state can “deliver broadband service to every West Virginia family and business.”

Likewise, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said in a Thursday statement that the new grant would “better connect homes, businesses and classrooms across the state.”

“While there is still a long road ahead to getting more West Virginians connected, we are well on our way,” she said.

Tax Credits Available For Huntington-Area Housing Developers

Real estate developers who construct housing units in the Huntington area are now eligible for a tax credit through a West Virginia Department of Commerce program.

Updated on Thursday, April 25 at 2:57 p.m.

Real estate developers who construct homes in parts of Cabell and Wayne counties are now eligible for a tax incentive.

Last week, the greater Huntington area — including eastern Cabell County and northern Wayne County — was designated a BuildWV district by the West Virginia Department of Commerce.

Since its creation in 2022, the BuildWV program has granted developers state tax credits for creating new housing options in West Virginia.

A 2024 report on housing needs in Huntington found that many local housing units are considered substandard in quality or burdensome in cost. The report also found a particular need for the construction of affordable family and multi-unit homes throughout the city.

Developers who build six or more housing units in the region are now eligible for the program’s incentives, with additional incentives for developers renovating single-family homes for first-time home buyers. To apply, communities must submit an application alongside a $5,000 application fee to the West Virginia Department of Economic Development.

“It basically makes it more profitable for developers to build new housing within the county because it allows them to apply for and receive a tax credit that they normally would be paying the state of West Virginia,” Cathy Burns, executive director of the Huntington Municipal Development Authority, told The Herald-Dispatch last week.

With the program now established, local officials are hopeful for the new housing options it could bring.

“The establishment of the [BuildWV] district in Huntington and the surrounding region is indicative that we are taking a critically important step forward,” Steve Williams, mayor of Huntington, said Thursday. “We are now moving beyond tax policy and infrastructure development. We are now preparing our communities … to welcome the population growth that demands adequate and appropriate housing.”

**Editor’s note: This story was updated to include a comment from Steve Williams, mayor of Huntington.

With Federal Clawback Averted, Justice Renews Calls For Health Funding

With fears of a federal COVID-19 relief fund clawback quashed, Gov. Jim Justice urged lawmakers to restore funding to health and human services in West Virginia.

For weeks, the possible federal clawback of $465 million in COVID-19 relief funding for schools has loomed large in West Virginia.

But on Friday Gov. Jim Justice announced the state would not have to return the funds, which the United States Department of Education initially said were not spent according to federal guidelines.

News of the potential clawback threw a wrench into the final weeks of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session this year. Out of caution, lawmakers ultimately approved a state budget of $4.9 billion — a figure lower than the $5.22 billion budget Justice proposed in January.

In March, Justice announced plans to hold a special legislative session in May to reexamine budget spending. With the specter of the clawback removed, lawmakers are now looking to bulk up the state budget.

And Justice has expressed a particular focus on restoring funding to West Virginia’s health and human resources.

State lawmakers significantly reduced funding for Medicaid services in this year’s regular legislative session.

This included a reduction of nearly $11 million in funding for the state’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Waiver program, which provides residents with disabilities financial support and at-home health services.

During a virtual press briefing Tuesday, Justice said the dismissal of the federal clawback opens the door for restored funding.

“Where we need to concentrate our efforts right off the get-go is to restore the dollars that we pulled out of the budget … for the most needy of our people,” he said. “We didn’t need to [cut funding], and if we don’t watch out we’re going to get our really needy folks in a real mess.”

Lawmakers who supported the cuts during this year’s regular session said the reductions would increase spending transparency and limit unnecessary expenditures.

But opponents of the budget cuts have expressed concern that the lack of funding could broadly reduce Medicaid services for West Virginia residents, including individuals with disabilities.

In March, Justice announced plans to call a special legislative session before May 14, West Virginia’s primary election. He said reexamining the state budget was a top priority for the prospective session.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers have expressed a preference that the session be held later in May, to coincide with interim meetings at the State Capitol.

As of Tuesday, no date for the special session has been finalized.

Advocates Seek Bigger Slice Of State Budget To Address Domestic Violence

Domestic violence prevention nonprofits have not received a state budget increase since 2009. Advocates hope a special session of the West Virginia Legislature could change that.

Tucked away on a side street of downtown Martinsburg, the Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center (EPEC) is a domestic violence prevention nonprofit serving Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson counties.

EPEC was founded in 1977 and expanded with time. Ten years ago, Executive Director Katie Spriggs said the EPEC served 250 people annually. Now, it serves more than 1,400 people each year.

Visits to EPEC may be on the rise, but Spriggs said funding has not increased sufficiently to meet them.

Looking at EPEC’s first-floor office it immediately becomes clear. Each day, staff members squeeze into corners of the room with laptops and cell phones in hand.

“We have probably on an average day 12 people that work out of this office, so it’s not large enough,” Spriggs said.

According to Spriggs, moving out of EPEC’s apartment-turned-office into a larger space would bring benefits. But a potential move and the expansion of current EPEC services are constrained by the same factor: the budget.

“We’re kind of stuck,” she said. “We haven’t seen an increase in so long that it’s really difficult to make the budget work every year.”

In West Virginia, domestic violence prevention nonprofits receive funding through a variety of sources, like private donations, federal grants and a line item included annually in the state budget.

But the state has not boosted that line item since May 2009, even as the cost of living has risen.

In recent years, Gov. Jim Justice has pursued a flat budget, which means freezing state spending so it stays the same each year. While surplus funds get redistributed, they do not supplement every budget item.

At the same time, Spriggs said that federal support for nonprofits through the Victims of Crime Act has become jeopardized by a recent reallocation of funds.

Continuing to provide resources to survivors of domestic violence requires reliable funding on the state level, she said.

Katie Spriggs, executive director of the Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center, is in the process of digitizing decades of the center’s paper records.

*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Sara Belvins O’Toole, director of development at Huntington’s Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, said part of the need for additional funding stems from changing conversations around domestic violence prevention.

In the early days, Belvins O’Toole said advocates were focused primarily on removing individuals from crisis situations.

They now understand helping people stay away from abusive relationships requires more holistic assistance, she said.

“People who are just plopped out of a situation and put into another environment don’t have the resources and the skills and the support that they need to actually stay away from a person that was violent in their life,” Belvins O’Toole said. “Especially if that person was in control of the finances.”

Approaching domestic violence on a holistic level means considering other factors that put survivors at risk, like housing insecurity and child care needs.

“We have to do a little bit of that other work like housing advocacy, like legal advocacy — all of those things that are providing support,” Belvins O’Toole said. “It’s not about just getting somebody out of crisis anymore. It’s about supporting them into a life free from violence.”

But this is easier said than done. Joyce Yedlsoky, team coordinator at the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WVCADV), said that the state’s flat budget has also affected separate nonprofits that address these needs directly.

In turn, she said domestic violence prevention advocates must wear multiple hats, spreading their time and funding thinner.

The budget “being able to account for other aspects that survivors need” is important as well, she said.

Through the WVCADV, Yedlosky works with the 14 licensed domestic violence prevention nonprofits located across West Virginia. In February, she helped arrange a visit to the State Capitol featuring representatives from each of these organizations.

The advocates lined the Capitol’s lower rotunda with tables, passing out stickers and informational flyers to visitors and lawmakers alike.

Yedlosky also took the time to speak with lawmakers about the nonprofits’ current financial needs, and said they were generally supportive of securing new funds.

But, since then, Yedlosky said lines of communication between lawmakers and the nonprofits have all but closed.

“Since the session ended, we haven’t heard from lawmakers specifically around our funding,” she said.

Staff members Katie Brougham, Serena Hemple and Foxfire Formoso (from left) stand in the entryway of the Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center.

*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

By the time this year’s regular session of the West Virginia Legislature ended, no budget line increases for domestic violence nonprofits had been passed. New funding for services like child care were also left out entirely.

Still, this year’s budget is not completely settled. Gov. Jim Justice has expressed disapproval of some funding omissions from this year’s budget, and in March announced plans to call a special legislative session to reconsider the budget.

Justice said he plans to hold the session by May 14, the state’s primary election. Members of the Legislature’s leadership have indicated they would prefer for the session to coincide with interim meetings beginning May 19.

In a dream scenario, Yedlosky said she would like to see a $500,000 cost-of-living increase to the state’s funding for domestic violence nonprofits, which currently sits at $2.5 million split annually between all 14 licensed organizations.

But Yedlosky said she’s not holding her breath for what the special session will bring.

“To be honest, I don’t think that that’s on the table for the special session,” she said. “It would be really nice if it was.”

Instead, Yedlosky said she hopes that lawmakers will reverse course and provide new funding to other services like child care.

“I do believe if they reinstate back some of the huge cuts that they made, that’s also going to help survivors,” she said. “That’s my hope.”

Back in the Eastern Panhandle, Spriggs echoed Yedlosky’s calls for a cost-of-living budget increase. She described an increase like this as a critical way to reduce the risks that survivors of domestic violence face across the state.

“A line item increase on the state budget would not only keep the lights on and give us a foundation to grow on,” she said. “It would also prevent violence. A lot of violence.”

For more information on domestic violence prevention resources in West Virginia, visit the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s website.

W.Va. Biscuit Voted ‘South’s Best’

Tudor’s “Mountaineer” biscuit was named “The South’s Best Biscuit” in an online poll contest held by Garden & Gun, a southern lifestyle magazine.

West Virginia’s biscuit business icon is receiving a regional reward. Homebased in Charleston, fans of the Tudor’s Biscuit World restaurant chain have taken a country breakfast staple to award winning heights.

Tudor’s “Mountaineer” biscuit was named “The South’s Best Biscuit” in an online poll contest held by Garden & Gun, a southern lifestyle magazine.

Garden & Gun had the public vote in a bracket-style contest to name the best biscuit among regional chains, local favorites, national chains, and gas stations. Tudor’s took 56 percent of the final vote to win the title.

“This win was made possible by Tudor’s customers, and we truly appreciate each and every one of them,” said Ray Burke of Tudor’s. “Tudor’s has been a staple breakfast for West Virginians on the go for decades, and we want to thank them for their loyalty.”

The “Mountaineer” was the specific biscuit to win the Garden & Gun contest. It consists of country ham, potato, egg, and cheese on a made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit.

To say thanks to voters, Tudors’ will hold a Customer Appreciation Day on Monday, April 22, by offering a Buy-One-Get-One free deal for its “Mountaineer” and “Thundering Herd” biscuits.

Luxury Harpers Ferry Hotel Eyes Revitalization District Status

Hill Top House Hotel, a controversial luxury venue planned for Harpers Ferry, is pursuing new financing models through West Virginia’s tax increment financing program.

Overlooking the Potomac River, the future site of the Hill Top House Hotel has been blocked off with chain-link fences and sheets of fabric for years.

First proposed in 2007, the luxury hotel aimed to renovate and expand a historic nineteenth-century hotel that had fallen into disrepair.

The plan generated controversy among residents concerned about the scale of the project, which includes an underground parking garage, on-site restaurant and public green space.

For their part, representatives with SWaN & Legend Venture Partners — the Virginia-based investment group that owns the property — have maintained their intention to see the project through, even as local objections have ebbed and flowed.

But community pushback has not come without challenges, according to SWaN CEO Karen Schaufeld. The years of delays to the project have altered the project’s costs, which Schaufeld said rose significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The increase in construction and building costs due to numerous delays and, subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Hill Top’s total project cost to balloon to $150 million,” she wrote Thursday in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

To offset these new costs and help complete a project decades in the making, SWaN representatives are pursuing a new financing model: West Virginia’s tax increment financing (TIF) program.

Schaufeld wrote that admission to the program is a “financial necessity” for the hotel’s completion.

Some properties along Washington Street in Harpers Ferry have been purchased and prepared for development by SWaN & Legend Venture Partners.

*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

The TIF program identifies areas in need of development and economic revitalization. By designating these areas as TIF districts, property developers can receive financial support for their projects on site.

When a site is declared a TIF district, its property value is frozen for a number of years, during which property owners can further develop within the district without facing increased property taxes.

On April 4, the Jefferson County Commission took the first steps toward securing the hotel its new status, voting narrowly to submit a TIF district application to the West Virginia Department of Economic Development.

This is merely a first step in the process, as the Jefferson County Commission will receive final approval over TIF districting plans.

Still, during an April 4 commission meeting, some members of the commission expressed concern over the speed of the application process, and encouraged additional time for public feedback.

Additionally, county commissioners expressed concern that the application was not complete at the time of their voting.

“I think we need to schedule another public hearing,” said County Commissioner Tricia Jackson, who voted against the application. “I think it would be irresponsible and reckless for this commission to advance this without having completed application information and [having] the public’s involvement.”

Last fall, the commission hosted a separate public hearing to receive community input over the plans. Additionally, the commission hosted a workshop on TIF districts in late March in preparation for the project.

Schaufeld said that the TIF district application “is a dynamic document, which contains values that change with time.”

This Harpers Ferry overlook has been slated for the development of Hill Top House Hotel, prompting detours for local access roads.

*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

“Since the progression of this TIF application was delayed by many months due to the Jefferson County Commission itself, there are certain areas that are being updated,” she wrote.

Other members of the commission said delaying the application process could have adverse effects on the project on the whole.

County Commissioner Pasha Majdi, who voted in favor of the application, added that the commission would have time to review the results from the Department of Economic Development before making a final decision.

“I’m concerned that if we delay this application, we would risk losing funding for public benefits like an underground parking garage and green space,” he said. “The project, it’s going to continue regardless. But without a TIF these public benefits could be lost.”

Ultimately, the commission voted in favor of the application 3 to 2, advancing a project characterized by years-long standstills.

In her email, Schaufeld wrote that SWaN expects a “swift turnaround” on their application, and a response from the Department of Economic Development within 60 days of its submission.

Once a response has been received, the application will return to the Jefferson County Commission for final approval. If approved, the county will then have three to six months to finalize bonds for the project.

Schaufeld added that the project’s latest advancement has brought renewed excitement.

“We hope that after many years of costly delays we will be able to bring this project to life so that these economic benefits can finally come to Jefferson County,” she wrote.