CHARLES TOWN — In what was a basic administrative action, the Jefferson County Commission approved the Asam Enterprises annexation proposal, allowing the Bavarian Inn property to become an official part of Shepherdstown.

Commissioners voted to approve the proposal, brought before the county by Shepherdstown Attorney Charles Printz on behalf of the town, to annex Asam Enterprises and the Asam Family Limited Partnership into the town, extending the town limits to include the entire acreage of the Bavarian Inn property.

“Part of the property is already within the town,” Printz told commissioners at the regular meeting on July 19. “We are asking the commission to confirm the remaining parts of Tax Map 5, Parcels 1 and 2 and all of Tax Map 5, Parcel 3.”

The Corporation of Shepherdstown began the official process of the annexation at their May 8 meeting, following through with two public readings of the proposal, before approval in early July. The final step in the annexation process was for the JCC to vote and confirm the annexation, to satisfy all statutory prerequisites. Seeing no abnormalities, the JCC voted in favor of the annexation request.

Upon its annexation, the Bavarian Inn will start paying real estate taxes to the town and charging guests an additional one percent sales tax on all sales, including at on-site festivals and restaurants. In exchange for adopting the sales tax, which was instituted last year by the town, the town will pay for the inn’s waste removal.

Questions did arise at the county level regarding the hotel/motel tax generated by the business at the inn. A draft memorandum of understanding between the town and the inn, indicated the currently allocated portion of the hotel/motel tax given to the Jefferson County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau will continue to be so allocated.

Commissioner Patsy Noland, who also sits on the board of the county’s CVB, said, “I just wanted to make sure that everything is done legally, so that down the road someone cannot come back and say that hotel/motel money should go somewhere else.”

Printz assured the commission that all agreements will strictly adhere to state statutes, with regard to hotel/motel allocations.