State sees more revenue increases, new businesses moving in

Sep. 6—Revenue numbers keep growing in West Virginia, and more businesses and industries are coming to the Mountain State.

"Revenue numbers are great," Gov. Jim Justice said Friday during his pandemic briefing. "I could not possibly be more proud."

Justice said August saw a $142 million surplus above what was in the budget, 32 percent ahead of last year.

Justice also issued a review of the numbers on Friday:

—Coming off a $1.308 billion surplus in Fiscal Year 2022 — the greatest year of revenue collections in state history — and another all-time record for severance tax collections in July, August saw severance tax collections total another all-time record for the month of $129.2 million compared to $45.9 million in August of last year, an $83.3 million increase.

—Year-to-date general revenue fund severance tax collections of $183.8 million were 273 percent ahead of last year and $157.4 million above estimate.

—Personal Income Tax collections totaled $186 million, exceeding the estimate by nearly $15.2 million and prior year receipts by 20.4 percent. Year-to-date collections totaled $347.2 million, an amount that was $29.4 million above estimate and 17.2 percent ahead of prior year receipts.

—Consumer Sales Tax collections of nearly $150.9 million were $20.1 million above estimate in August and 6.9 percent ahead of prior August collections. Cumulative collections of nearly $247.2 million are $30.5 million above estimate and 7 percent ahead of last year.

Business growth has also continued.

Justice said in a review of the state's successes West Virginia is "finally competing on the world stage and recruiting world-class companies to our state as shown in several major economic development announcements this year."

New companies locating in the state include Omnis Building Technologies in Bluefield at Exit 1.

The $40 million, 150,000-square-foot facility will manufacture housing materials that will "revolutionize the future of residential construction," creating 150-300 jobs in the process.

The site work near Exit 1 beside the Bluefield Area Transit headquarters is nearly complete and construction is slated to start soon.

Other new companies coming to the state include:

—Nucor Corporation in Mason County, a state-of-the-art sheet steel mill. This record investment will exceed $2.7 billion, making it the largest in West Virginia history, as well as the largest single investment Nucor has ever made.

—GreenPower Motor Company will manufacture zero-emission, all-electric school buses in South Charleston, bringing hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in economic impact to West Virginia.

—Owens & Minor, a Fortune 500 company that provides medical supplies, is going to expand on a deal they previously had with WVU Medicine and create over 125 jobs at a healthcare products preparedness and supply center in Morgantown.

—Klöckner Pentaplast has announced a multimillion-dollar expansion of their West Virginia facility.

—PepsiCo is building a pair of new distribution facilities this year, representing a combined $32.5 million investment, while providing 185 jobs in West Virginia.

—Veloxint, a manufacturer of nanocrystalline metal alloys, is moving to Touchstone Research Laboratory Ltd. in Triadelphia and is expected to create another 200-300 new jobs over the next four years.

—Pure Watercraft, the leading direct-to-consumer provider of high-performance electric boats, has executed an agreement with the State of West Virginia to manufacture its electric pontoon boats in Beech Bottom, WV, creating over 100 full-time jobs in the Northern Panhandle region by the end of 2025.

Justice also said last week he will have another major economic development announcement in the next few weeks.

The state is also seeing a population increase, Justice said in the review of accomplishments.

From April 2010 to July 2019, more than 43,000 people moved out of the state. However, from 2020 through 2021, net migration is up in West Virginia for the first time in decades, with over 2,000 people moving into the state, making West Virginia one of the top states in the entire nation that people are moving into on a percentage basis.

Justice also has overseen investments in tourism, including renovations at Pipestem State Park as well as others around the state.

He said Friday most state parks were fully booked for the Labor Day weekend. "Our state parks are really busy. The more we spend there, the more we bring in."

West Virginia was recently named a top-10 travel region in the world to visit by Lonely Planet; the only state to earn this prestigious distinction and the state was also recently selected as one of the Best Places to Go by Condé Nast Traveler. West Virginia was also recently named as one of CBS's top destinations for family vacations in 2022.

Justice said last week the state remains on a "rocketship ride," one that he promised when he took office and inherited a $500 million budget deficit and vowed to continue the process of making West Virginia a more business-friendly state.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com