2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 7. County Commissions and Officers › Article 20. Fees and Expenditures for County Development › §7-20-3. Definitions

(a) "Capital improvements" means the following public facilities or assets that are owned, supported or established by county government:
(1) Water treatment and distribution facilities;
(2) Wastewater treatment and disposal facilities;
(3) Sanitary sewers;
(4) Storm water, drainage, and flood control facilities;
(5) Public primary and secondary school facilities;
(6) Public road systems and rights-of-way;
(7) Parks and recreational facilities; and
(8) Police, emergency medical, rescue, and fire protection facilities.
"Capital improvements" as defined herein is limited to those improvements that are treated as capitalized expenses according to generally accepted governmental accounting principles and that have an expected useful life of no less than three years. "Capital improvement" does not include costs associated with the operation, repair, maintenance, or full replacement of capital improvements. "Capital improvement" does include reasonable costs for planning, design, engineering, land acquisition, and other costs directly associated with the capital improvements described herein.
(b) "County services" means the following: (1) Services provided by administration and administrative personnel, law enforcement and its support personnel; (2) street light service; (3) firefighting service; (4) ambulance service; (5) fire hydrant service; (6) roadway maintenance and other services provided by roadway maintenance personnel; (7) public utility systems and services provided by public utility systems personnel, water; and (8) all other direct and indirect county services authorized by this code.
(c) "Direct county services" means those public services authorized and provided by various county agencies or departments.
(d) "Indirect county services" means those public services authorized and provided by commissioned agents, agencies or departments of the county.
(e) "Growth county" means any county within the state with an averaged population growth rate in excess of one percent per year as determined from the most recent decennial census counts and forecasted, within decennial census count years, by official records of government or generally approved standard statistical estimate procedures: Provided, That once "growth county" status is achieved it is permanent in nature and the powers derived hereby are continued.
(f) "User" means any member of the public who uses or may have occasion to use county facilities and services as defined herein.
(g) "Impact fees" means any charge, fee, or assessment levied as a condition of the following: (1) Issuance of a subdivision or site plan approval; (2) issuance of a building permit; and (3) approval of a certificate of occupancy, or other development or construction approval when any portion of the revenues collected is intended to fund any portion of the costs of capital improvements for any public facilities or county services not otherwise permitted by law. An impact fee does not include charges for remodeling, rehabilitation, or other improvements to an existing structure or rebuilding a damaged structure, provided there is no increase in gross floor area or in the number of dwelling units that result therefrom.
(h) "Proportionate share" means the cost of capital improvements that are reasonably attributed to new development less any credits or offsets for construction or dedication of land or capital improvements, past or future payments made or reasonably anticipated to be made by new development in the form of user fees, debt service payments, taxes or other payments toward capital improvement costs.
(i) "Reasonable benefit" means a benefit received from the provision of a capital improvement greater than that received by the general public located within the county wherein an impact fee is being imposed.
(j) "Plan" means a county, comprehensive, general, master or other land use plan as described herein.
(k) "Program" means the capital improvements program described herein.
(l) "Unincorporated area" and "total unincorporated area" means all lands and resident estates of a county that are not included within the corporate, annexed areas or legal service areas of an incorporated or chartered municipality, city, town or village located in the State of West Virginia.