Municipal Rights: Home Rule in West Virginia

In the United States, the financial crisis that started in December 2007 and entered full force by September 2008 has left many municipalities in financial depredation. Dwindling tax bases are forcing cities to reevaluate services, employment, and basic utilities; however, cities and other municipalities are quite limited in how they may respond to fiscal constraints due to Dillon’s Rule provisions that are prevalent in numerous state constitutions. The basis of these provisions, to be described in greater detail henceforth, requires state legislative approval on many matters of city government. Unless the municipality first obtains permission from the legislature it cannot adjust services and taxes accordingly. In response to these restrictions, municipalities around the United States have been petitioning state legislatures to allow the adoption of home rule. Such has been the case in West Virginia where the legislature has provisionally adopted a municipal home rule pilot program that allows select municipalities that apply and receive approval to enact a limited number of measures directly relating to that municipality. This paper will summarily research the history of home rule and Dillon’s Rule doctrines as well as their usage and success in West Virginia, the Home Rule Pilot Project with particular focus on the four cities under the Project, the implementation of home rule programs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then this paper will recommend changes to the Home Rule Pilot Project while discussing the feasibility of those changes. Research on this topic is imperative today as many cities are moving to home rule doctrines in order to change city services; further, West Virginia’s Home Rule Pilot Project is set to be reviewed in 2013, making public awareness of the topic necessary.