Virgil Helton
Last week, Gov. Joe Manchin’s office announced that aide Scott Cosco would be leaving to head up government/regulatory affairs for Frontier Communications in West Virginia.
Yesterday, Revenue Secretary Virgil Helton’s upcoming departure was announced. He’ll be working for the Colorado-based software company FAST Enterprises, which in 2005 received a $22 million contract to upgrade the state’s tax collection system. Helton was tax commissioner at the time.
Former Manchin Chief of Staff Larry Puccio left state government for lobbying in December, and former Tax Commissioner Christopher Morris became West Virginia American Water Co.’s chief lobbyist in March.
It is worth noting that some people questioned the FAST Enterprises contract five years ago. Company officials were not accused of wrongdoing, but some people complained that the contract was tailored to the firm. It was the only company to bid on the contract. Here is what the Gazette reported at the time:
During former Gov. Bob Wise’s administration, the tax department initially bid out the contract so the risk was placed on the computer company, not the state. Under that proposal, the company that provided the software package would be paid from the money it saved the state.
Fast Enterprises was one of three companies that bid on the contract but was eliminated because it didn’t have experience with such a revenue-sharing agreement.
After Gov. Joe Manchin took over in January, the tax department scrapped the proposal and re-bid the contract – this time with the taxpayers footing the bill at the outset.
Manchin believed the state would be better off paying for the computer contract directly, [state tax division Director Dana] Miller said.
During a special session last spring, Manchin persuaded lawmakers to set aside $22 million for the tax collection project from an unexpected budget surplus.
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