Four mines, all owned by Alpha Natural Resources, owe Kanawha County $250,000 in taxes, almost 42 percent of the county's budget deficit.
"It's disappointing," said Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy. "It's very disappointing and it's a sign of the state that the industry is in right now."
Alpha Natural Resources filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August and owes about $790,000 to the state for the first half of the tax year and almost $1.5 million for the year.
Public schools will take the biggest hit because they receive about 70 percent of property tax revenue. But the counties in the state take a hit, too.
There are 1,286 people employed by the mines in Kanawha County as of Oct. 22, according to the West Virginia Office of Miner's Health Safety and Training.
But with that number of employees dropping and mines restructuring, the county is left tightening its belt until it can find more sources of income.
"The demise of the coal industry is costing the county in multiple ways," Hardy said. "We've lost the coal severance revenue, which we have used for years to do improvement projects in our coal producing areas of the county."
Kanawha County is facing a $600,000 deficit in its budget. Currently, there are more than 25 businesses delinquent on their taxes.
But the county could see some of that money back.
With Alpha Natural Resources, the county is considered a priority unsecured claim. That means that the county becomes one of the first to get its money back once the company has it.
"When we can pay certain prepetition debts and what we can pay is really out of our hands during the process," said a spokesman for Alpha Natural Resources.
If some of the companies missed the Sept. 1 start of the tax collection period and are just late on their taxes (and haven't filed for bankruptcy), they still will have to pay. Interest will be added.
"It's possible," said Kent Carper, the Kanawha County Commission president, about getting the money back. "What you don't do is sit around and wait for what's possible, you've got to deal with today. Right now, there's a potential budget shortfall."
To deal with the shortfall, Carper is looking to cut spending.
"I'm going to cut new projects and internalize the loss as best as I know how to do," Carper said.
County employees will take a hit from the budget cuts, as the county commission passes more health care costs on to employees.
The county paid a little more than $6 million in health insurance costs last year and has paid $1.2 million through the first quarter of this year.
The commission also plans to cut some of its spending on community projects. That includes things like building playgrounds, updating baseball fields and making walking paths, but it also contributes to larger infrastructure like water improvement and sanitation.
As the coal industry continues to struggle, the county is making efforts to diversify its income. Part of that is through trying to bring new businesses to West Virginia.
"It is very hard to replace the economic clout of the coal industry," Hardy said. "Because there's so many vendors that relied on the coal industry for their business."
The county works with the Charleston Area Alliance to help develop the economy, but it hasn't been able to match the job production of the coal industry.
"Our lifeblood is property tax, that's the lifeblood of the county," Hardy said. "And coal severance tax as well."
Reach Dan Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow a@drdesrochers on Twitter.