A key punch error caused Kanawha County to lose more than $500,000 in tax revenue Thursday evening.
NGK SparkPlugs was taxed for $37 million more than the company should have been, after a tax department employee calculated the totals wrong.
The company had not yet paid the amount and the county will not have to issue a refund check, but Kanwaha County Commission President Kent Carper said the revenue already had been calculated into budgets.
"For various agencies, there's less money than they thought," Carper said.
The employee who made the mistake no longer works for the department, West Virginia State Tax Department Chief Appraiser Leroy Butler said.
Commissioners voted to exonerate NGK SparkPlugs Thursday evening.
In other business, Matt Ballard, director of Charleston Area Alliance, said Autopods pedicabs have provided roughly 3,600 rides since the company opened in May.
Ballard said he was surprised the older generation seems to be getting the most use of the pedicabs.
"Seniors are using this a lot downtown," Ballard said. "They're using it to get to their doctors and dentist appointments."
The Charleston Area Alliance partnered with Advantage Valley and others to receive $250,000 from President Barack Obama's POWER grant initiative to conduct a study to identify sites for commercial development.
"You all are supposed to be doing that for Kanawha County," Carper said, regarding the Charleston Area Alliance conducting site studies. "Really this will be more beneficial to Putnam and Cabell counties because there's not that many sites in Kanawha County that qualify."
County officials said they are working on a POWER grant application for Yeager Airport, which should be completed by the end of October.
Commissioners voted to put $2.5 million into the county stabilization fund, bringing the balance to $8.2 million. Carper said without the fund, the county may not have handled the flooding as smoothly as it did in June.
The county has spent $2.9 million on flood relief, and has been reimbursed $1.2 million thus far.
The commission gave all but three county fire departments $20,000. Charleston Fire Department, South Charleston Fire Department and Chesapeake Volunteer Fire Department all received letters of intent for a contribution of $20,000 from the county.
The commission also gave the Metro Drug Unit $50,000.
Reach Laura Haight at laura.haight@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @laurahaight_ on Twitter.