A slight decrease in the county’s levy rate is part of the $35,142,781 budget for the 2018-’19 fiscal year passed by the Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday.
While the Class I property designation formerly used for farmland and agricultural property has been phased out, it still represents the base levy rate. The commission is proposing a base rate of 11.88 cents, down from 12 cents in the current fiscal year.
The other classes are multiples of the base amount. The levy rate for Class II property will be 23.76 cents (twice the base amount) on every $100, and 47.52 cents (four times the base amount) on every $100 of Class III and IV properties.
County Administrator Rennetta McClure said those levy rates will generate $19,258,581 in property taxes for county operations.
McClure, who worked alongside Commissioner Sean Sikora in leading the budget process, said once the county’s coal severance revenue is added, the total of both budgets comes to $35,402,781.
The county expects to spend about $20.4 million on general government — elected offices, county property, etc. — in the coming year. Another $11.2 million is budgeted for public safety, including law enforcement, jail transports and court security. Additionally, $1,308,500 is budgeted for culture and recreation; $1,082,053 for health and sanitation; $950,000 for capital projects and $225,000 for social services.
The county won’t know how much money will be carried over from the current budget until July. Last year, about $10 million was ultimately added in carryover funds.
Sikora said that number should be reduced this time around and he expects the overall 2018-’19 budget to be at least $1 million less than the current spending plan.
He explained that the county can have up to 10 percent of its budget set aside for contingencies. The budget passed on Wednesday has $2.3 million in the contingency line item, or about 68 percent of the $3.5 million maximum allowed.
“Starting last year we really started taking hard looks at the different budgets across the county. I’m really happy with what we’ve done this year. I think this is a very prudent budget. It’s fair and it really shows a lot of work in keeping an eye on the bottom line,” Sikora said, noting the decrease in levy rates.
“We looked at that closely because that’s something that’s going to hold us to a certain amount of taxes that we’re going to have to live within. I’m very happy with this.”
Commission President Tom Bloom said the budget also provided for additional personnel, including two additional deputies for the sheriff’s department and assistance for various county offices as well as an increase of $380,000 in funds going to outside agency requests.
In other news from Wednesday’s meeting, the commission said it’s given Mon Health EMS until April 6 to respond to a request from WVU Hospitals’ new HealthTeam Critical Care Transport to be added to the mutual aid agreement that stipulates which of the county’s EMS agencies respond to calls.
As the primary provider, Mon Health EMS is always the first dispatched. If they can’t respond, Star City Volunteer Fire Department EMS and JanCare are called.
A number of residents have approached the commission asking why the ambulance WVU has stationed in western Monongalia County can’t respond to calls, forcing patients to wait for an ambulance dispatched from Morgantown.
The commissioners said they plan to sit down with Mon Health EMS officials next week.
“We’ve given them notice that they’ve got to respond or be in violation of their agreement, so we expect a response to that letter, and that coincides with our meeting with them,” Sikora said, later adding. “I know there’s been changes in the management at Mon Health Systems, but we’ve told them that’s not an excuse not to adhere to your agreement.”
