KINGWOOD — The Preston County Commission ended the 2019-2020 fiscal year with $402,715 in unencumbered funds and put about half of it in contingencies.
County Administrator Kathy Mace credited county elected officials with standing by a ban on “nonessential” spending and a hiring freeze put in place by the commission April 1. The hiring freeze was lifted July 7.
“Everyone adhered to that,” Mace said.
Commissioners cited lower tax collections and COVID-19 in April as reasons for the frugalities.
When the freeze was implemented the commission also asked the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority to let it make payments on its bill until July 1. The authority never approved that, and Preston is up-to-date on its regional jail bill.
Commissioners voted 3-0 to follow Maces’s recommendation on putting $75,000 of the unencumbered carryover into the regional jail line item, for a total of $957,519 budgeted for regional jail fees.
The bills have averaged more than $900,000 annually each of the last two years, going as high as $920,000, Mace pointed out.
“We’re always having to supplement that,” she said, so this should take care of the bills this fiscal year.
Another $202,716 was put into the contingency fund. The county only had $159,000 in contingencies. The state recommends 5% in contingencies. The additional $202,716 will bring the total to $362,245, or 4.29%.
Contingency is basically “for any surprises you might have,” Mace said. “That’s why it’s really important we have that savings.”
Commissioner Don Smith gave the example of replacing a boiler as an example.
The rest of the money, $125,000, was put into contributions. The commission had cut volunteer fire departments, the health department and all outside agencies from its budget.
Any of those requests could be considered from this fund.
Smith suggested putting more money into contingencies. “I like to squirrel money away for when all hell breaks loose,” he said.
You can always make a budget revision, Mace said.
Also Tuesday, commissioners:
- approved a lease with CGP Development for 3,677 square feet of space at the Kingwood Plaza to act as the election center. The lease will be $30,000 for the period Jan. 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022. The commission already rents some space there, but this would be for more total space.
- agreed employees can take an “Employee Appreciation COVID-19 Day” in lieu of the Sept. 25 Buckwheat Festival holiday. County offices will be open Sept. 25 because the festival was cancelled. Employees can take another day off instead, with their supervisor’s approval.
Mace said employees have had to make a lot of adjustments through the COVID crisis. The day must be taken by Nov. 30.
- set an Aug. 18 public hearing for PSD 4’s request to expand its service area so it can acquire Bruceton Mills water. As previously reported, the town and PSD have already approved the change.
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