Berkeley County Council

Government Web Site for
Berkeley County West Virginia

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Treasurer

Kenneth LeMaster Sheriff - Treasurer		Barbara Gooden Chief Tax Deputy

400 W. Stephen St. – Suite 209
Martinsburg, WV 25401
(304) 264-1982

Sheriff's Duties as Treasurer

1. The Sheriff must first take the Oath of Office before the County Commission before starting his/her term of Office.

2. The Sheriff must file with the Secretary of State his/her manual signature, after this has been done the Sheriff may then use a facsimile signature to use as his/her signature.

3. The Sheriff shall be ex officio county treasurer and as such shall receive, collect and disburse all moneys due such county or any district thereof, and shall also receive, collect and disburse to the treasurer of the county school board of education all school money for the county.

4. The Sheriff shall maintain accurate records of all moneys that are collected and disbursed through him. The following is a list of monthly duties that are done by the Sheriff as treasurer:

At the end of every month all tax money collected plus interest is disbursed to each municipality, the municipalities are State Current, County Current, School Current, School Excess, Martinsburg Current, Martinsburg Excess, Hedgesville, and School Bond.

All county bank accounts are to be reconciled by the 10th of every month, at this time the Sheriff must also do a monthly financial statement that shows all collections and disbursements of all moneys collected by him for that month.

The Sheriff shall disburse to the State Auditor any moneys that have been collected by him for fees due the State such as:

1. Court reporter fees
2. Attorney fees
3. Drug Testing
4. Jury fees
5. Witness fees
6. State fines

The Sheriff shall disburse all state police fee money collected for concealed weapons permits to the State Police along with sending copies of all applications that permits were issued for that month.

5. All personal property and real estate bills need to be mailed out by July 15th of every year.

6. The Sheriff shall hold a Tax lien sale every November on all previous year real estate taxes that have not been paid. Thirty days prior to the sale the Sheriff will notify all persons that are still delinquent on real estate by certified mail along with any persons who have filed a lien holder on any real estate bills that are still due. The Sheriff is also required by law to publish a list in the local paper of all real estate taxes not paid, this list must run 3 weeks prior to the sale.

7. After the sale the Sheriff shall publish another list in the local paper listing all properties that were sold, this list runs one time.

8. Taxes go delinquent as of May 1st every year, on April 30th the Sheriff is required to run a delinquent list of all taxes that have not been paid. The Sheriff is then required to run in the local paper a publication list of all taxes that are not paid. This list runs 1 time.

9. On June 30th of every year the Sheriff is required to close out the fiscal year, he must do a complete close out of everything that was done from July 1st through June 30. He is required to do a Sheriff’s Settlement which is a complete break down of all taxes collected, all other receipts collected by him and all disbursement that have been made by the County. This settlement must be completed and mailed to the State uditor’s
Office by July 31st of every year.

10. The Sheriff issues all concealed weapons permits. The Sheriff receives all applications, does all of the background checks and approves or denies all permits for his County.

11. The Sheriff pays all Jurors and witnesses for Circuit and Magistrate Courts.

Related Links

Ambulance Authority

Berkeley County Water District

Civil Air Patrol

Day Report Center

Development Authority

Drug Treatment Contact Numbers

EPTA

Farmland Protection

Fire Board

Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle MPO

Region 9

Resource Center

Solid Waste Authority

West Virginia Code

WVU Extension Office

Other Links

Berkeley County

City of Martinsburg

Federal Government

Main Street Martinsburg

State Government