Oct 19, 2015 4 min read

During peak prices for oil and natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale, Washington County was raking in $600,000 a month, mainly from its wells in Cross Creek County Park. While the county isn’t crying penury, the figure has shrunk to about $150,000, according to the finance department.

The shift came to light Monday during a hearing for the parks, bridge and planning department as Lisa Cessna, executive director of the Washington County Planning Commission, was questioned about projects that are proposed for parks, funded by oil and natural gas revenue.

Between 2003 and 2013, Washington County received $8.8 million from royalties and leases related to gas extracted through wells at the 3,000-acre Cross Creek County Park. Royalty is a share of the product or profit reserved by the grantor, or land owner, from an oil or gas lease.

Income from the wells meant that the county did not have to borrow millions of dollars to conduct the property reassessment that the Washington and McGuffey school districts sought through court action initiated in 2008. After exhausting legal remedies, the commissioners awarded a $6.96 million contract to Tyler Technologies Inc. of Moraine, Ohio, in summer 2013, and property owners should be receiving their new assessments in February.

Washington County has also received seven-figure amounts from the state’s Act 13 Marcellus Shale impact fee since 2012.

There is a two-year time lag in distributing Act 13 impact fees, so the Washington County website shows the county receiving, based on 2013 Marcellus wells, $5,915,857, including $992,370 for roads, $800,000 for public safety, $1 million for information technology, $174,000 for courts, $250,000 for social services and $2,699,487 for capital reserve.

The state of the natural gas industry is also having a ripple effect in a county row office.

Debbie Bardella, recorder of deeds, said, “Right now, we’re slow because of the oil and gas. The (Service Employees International Union) called and asked why I was not filling a vacant position. It’s just not that busy.” Bardella said in her budget hearing that a clerk/typist had gone to work in the Department of Aging Services.

Washington County’s 2015 annual budget of $81.9 million was based on a tax levy of 24.9 mills. The preliminary budget based on this tax levy is expected Nov. 6.

Meanwhile, at the annual budget hearings, which continue through Thursday, Cessna requested the hiring of two new employees, one who would work primarily on the 17-mile Washington County segment of the Panhandle Trail, and another for Cross Creek County Park. During the winter, the Panhandle Trail maintenance person would be assigned to other county parks. Shelter rental at county parks brings in between $60,000 to $65,000 annually without a rate increase for the past five years. Fees for residents and nonresidents vary from $25 to $92 per day.

The county added a shelter to the Route 844 side of Cross Creek County Park near West Middletown, bringing the total to four, and Jeff Donahue, superintendent of recreation, said it has become one of the most popular picnic spots because of development of that end of the park that includes a boat launch and playground.

Already budgeted are new restrooms for Mingo Creek County Park, where two trail pedestrian bridges near the center in Nottingham will be replaced.

Also in Cessna’s department, the county’s bridge inspection firm, GAI Consultants, will be conducting video inspections half of the county’s 10 dams, eight of which are on Harmon Creek in the vicinity of Burgettstown and two of which are along Cross Creek, including the dam at the park. The other five dams will be inspected next year.

The Mawhinney Road bridge over Miller’s Run in Cecil Township is scheduled to be replaced next year, although others in the design phase. The bridge department anticipates that the South Wade Avenue bridge over Chartiers Creek in Washington will be completed in November, ending a detour that was put in place over the summer.

Washington County is responsible for 127 “bridge sites,” although seven are only abutments. Twenty-five have been heavily maintenaned, rehabilitated or replaced, Cessna said.

Washington County was notified recently that it will finally be receiving $3,600 from the National Road Heritage Corridor for maintenance work the county did nine years ago on two CSX railroad tunnels, including one under heavily traveled Route 40 and another longer tunnel lies beneath the village of West Alexander.

In 2001, the county parks department formed a study committee to determine the feasibility of walking and/or biking trail in Claysville. The county, however, is not the sole owner of the railroad right of way. Individuals and other entities, including Columbia Gas Co., purchased parts.

Although a hiking or biking path has never been formally dedicated, a 2.3-mile section from Timberlake Road near Sunset Beach to Claysville has been mowed and pedestrians and bicyclists use it.