MORGANTOWN – The Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday approved a $44,011,156 county budget for the 2027 fiscal year beginning July 1.
That number represents a decrease of about 2.3% from the $45,014,430 budget for this fiscal year as currently adjusted.
Even so, the commission intends to keep levy rates unchanged, making this the ninth consecutive budgeting cycle in which the county’s base rates were either lowered or held in place.
The projected budget is predicated on rates of 22 cents per $100 of assessed value for Class II (owner occupied) property and 44 cents per $100 for commercial property in the county (Class III) or within a municipality (Class IV).
While data showing how county levy rates stack up across the state for FY 2027 won’t be available until later this year, Monongalia County has historically been among the lowest county rates in West Virginia, second only to Tyler County in the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years.
The maximum allowable base levy rates for counties are 28.6 cents (Class II) and 57.2 cents (Class III & IV).
“We’ve, at least the entire time I’ve been on commission, we’ve kept the levy rate the same or lower than it was previously,” Commissioner Jeff Arnett said. “I’m very proud of that and very proud that we’re able to do that.”
While the rates will remain unchanged, the county is anticipating an overall 5.29% increase in property tax collections due to appreciating property values and a stabilization in Class III valuations, which have fluctuated wildly over the previous two budget cycles in response to state-directed changes in how oil and gas considerations are valued.
Looking at the FY 2027 budget by major categories, general government represents about 50% of the overall spending plan at $22,059,607 (down just over $2.6 million from the current year). Public safety represents just over 38% of the budget at $16,832,460 (up about $1.9 million from the current fiscal year.) The other major categories include culture and recreation ($2,101,959); capital projects ($1,710,000); health & sanitation ($832,880); and social services ($474,250).
Included in those numbers is the roughly $30 million dedicated to the county’s constitutional offices – assessor, circuit clerk, county clerk, county commission, prosecuting attorney and sheriff – which will see $417,951 in wage increases for employees within those offices.
The county no longer grants across-the-board raises, opting instead to make raises part of the budgeting requests put forward by constitutional office holders in an effort to keep county wages competitive. The result is a variance in raise percentages across the offices – from 2.27% to 7.02% – for an average increase of 3.67%.
“One of the things that we did address was looking at the offices and their salaries and the inequities and try to narrow that gap between some of the offices,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said. “So we heard some of the concerns, and we worked towards that end.”
Overall, about 31% of the county’s project spending plan, or $13,688,589, will be invested in the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department. That number is up from $12,194,580 in the current fiscal year.
Finally, the county is providing $1,094,774 in funding to nonprofits and outside agencies through a combination of general fund grant dollars, coal severance fund revenue and discretionary local government allocations from the state’s opioid settlement fund.
“I think what is key is that we’re one of the few counties, and I started to look at all the counties across the state that actually funds many of these nonprofit programs. Some of the counties only fund the elected officials’ offices. So, we really believe in quality of life …,” Commissioner Tom Bloom said. “We did receive 59 grant applications from 56 entities, and 57 applications received some level of funding.”
As notifications have not been made regarding the allocation of these funds, the commission did not release details regarding agencies and dollar amounts.
