MORGANTOWN – While cutting ties with the Morgantown Public Training Center has become a talking point during the city’s current budget process – and appears to have the support of a voting majority within Morgantown City Council – the $41.8 million fiscal year 2027 budget adopted by council Tuesday evening did not include any reductions in financial support for the facility.
The budget includes $240,000 in lease payments, plus $104,250 in utilities, materials and supplies.
Had the council wanted to make those cuts, it could have initiated them on March 3, when Deputy Mayor Brian Butcher moved to pull funding for the facility prior to the body’s first reading of the upcoming budget. Butcher’s motion was never seconded.
Instead, Mayor Danielle Trumble was joined by councilors Jodi Hollingshead and Mark Downs in asking the administration to put together an “exit strategy,” explaining that while they support divestment from the facility, the elimination of its funding as of the July 1 start of the fiscal year was too abrupt.
Under the existing agreement approved on a 4-3 vote of council in December 2022, the city paid Glenmark Holding LLC $500,000 up front and agreed to lease payments of $240,000 annually over 10 years for the 19,938-square-foot facility that was formerly the Defense in Depth shooting range.
As part of Tuesday’s meeting, a small group of citizens urged city council to not only eliminate spending on the training center, but reconsider its overall investment in the police department, which, at $10.2 million for the upcoming fiscal year constitutes just under a quarter of the city’s proposed budget.
“I am disappointed to see that the proposed funding for the police remains at over $10 million, consuming nearly 25% of the city’s entire budget, and the fire department takes up another 20%. While these two entities suck up nearly half of the city’s funds, the majority of our services and programs divide what’s left to operate on shoestring budgets,” Paige Rearing said, before describing an negative interaction with MPD officers that she says occurred last year.
Rearing concluded, “So, I’m asking this council to be bold as you negotiate the budget for 2027. As authoritarian violence rises in our country, let us not continue to fund and uphold an unpopular, ineffective, costly and violent institution. Instead of sowing poisoned fields, move to the fertile ground of our community and invest in our growth.”
Members of council touched on both the training center and the public comments during their reports to close out the meeting.
“I know there’s a lot of hate in this room for police officers and firemen and our first responders. I don’t get it. You know, I work in law enforcement. I see what these men and women do, and it saddens me to hear this all the time,” Councilor Louise Michael said. “Secondly, almost every city that’s our size and population budget for their first responders anywhere from 18.23% to 25%, so our budget is not out of line with a lot of cities our size. I just wanted to say that. And I just want to say thank you to all our first responders. We appreciate what you do.”
Hollingshead followed, explaining she ran for council to help “council and staff and the city of Morgantown to reimagine how we approach the city’s issues.”
“The other thing that I can’t ignore is that everyone who came to speak on the police training center expressed a negative experience with the police. I don’t know that I would label it as hate, but it is your experience. I want to highlight that, and I want you to know that we hear you, and that this budget item isn’t just about the police training center. It’s about our priorities. It’s about how we approach crime and homelessness and all sort of issues; addiction,” she said. “It’s more than just the training center, and the fact that we have people who are willing to come and speak at city council and express their negative experiences with the police is incredibly brave, first of all, and we can’t ignore that as a council and staff.”
