MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Monongalia County commissioners anticipate a 2016-2017 budget that is $1.1 million dollars less than the current general budget.
Wednesday, following unanimous approval of the $31,595,864 general budget, commissioners were still able to include raises for county employees and allocations for county sheriff’s deputies.
According to Commission President Eldon Callen, the county’s general fund has been steady, unlike funding coming to Monongalia County from coal severance tax revenues.
“It’s all been planned over many years. The coal severance is a problem, but that’s a state issue. There’s nothing we can do about that. They send us a check or they don’t send us a check,” explained Callen.
In January, the county received $140,000 in coal severance revenue down by more than $600,000 from January 2015.
Commissioners notified outside agencies in December there would be no allocation of coal severance tax funds from the commission.
As part of a 5-year plan, Callen explained the upcoming allocation to sheriff’s deputies follows a $4,000 allocation previously.
According to Callen, in 2012 county deputies were ranked third in the state for pay scale. The ranking dropped to double digits prompting
previous boosts. But, even with the $2,000 approved for 2016-2017, Callen said that still doesn’t get the pay scale commissioner’s approve.
“Hopefully that will bring them in at four or five. We’re looking at possibly giving another increase to bring them up. If you’re one of the wealthiest counties in the state, you ought to be paying your employees a proper amount to reflect that,” Callen said.
Commission agreed to a 2% across-the-board raise for all county employees.
On May 10, Monongalia County voters approved 4 property tax levies raising revenue for some of the outside agencies that lost funding because of the coal severance tax losses.
With an added predicted $160,000 as the county’s next coal severance fund budget, the state auditor’s office will have to confirm a $31,755,864 budget.
Levy rates will not increase.