MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia County Commission held a brief special meeting Tuesday morning to lay the levy rates for the upcoming fiscal year.
As previously reported, the commission approved a $35,142,781 budget for the 2018-’19 fiscal year, beginning July 1.
That budget comes with a slight decrease in levy rates.
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.
The commission has said those levy rates will generate $19,258,581 in property taxes for county operations.
The county expects to spend about $20.4 million on general government — elective 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 commission reconvened the special session briefly Tuesday after realizing one of the numbers was misstated in the morning session.
