The National Association of Royalty Owners or NARO and Gold Khourey & Turak held a public town hall meeting Tuesday night in Moundsville at the old West Virginia Penitentiary.
They discussed varying topics from personal income tax implications to severance taxes. They also answered questions pertaining to royalty statements, which sometimes can be difficult to understand.
"It's important that people learn as much as they can about whether they're being paid properly when they see a royalty check," said Jonathan Turak with Gold Khourey & Turak.
More than 150 people attended the meeting wondering how their current situations will pan out in the future.
"There's going to be a tremendous amount of development, and we're only beginning to see the infant stages of it," continued Turak.
A panel of experts from Gold Khourey and Turak, local legislation and more answered questions from the community, including "Am I being paid what it is that I'm entitled to be paid under the terms of lease?"
One of the attendees, David Weaver, owns mineral rights with his an acre and half, and he has a trust with his family. He feels that he's not getting the most out of what he has because of the confusing contracts.
"This is ridiculous. A lot of leases I've seen over the years have been horrible," he said.
Weaved added that hasn't received any royalties yet. "I want to learn the taxes, what I need to do prior receiving royalties, after receiving the royalties," he continued.
