WELCH, W.Va. — Six McDowell County Sheriff’s Deputies who expected to be laid off January 1st have a reprieve, but Sheriff Martin West is uneasy about how long it will last.
The McDowell County Commission voted 2-1 Tuesday to redirect $21,000 a month from the county’s ambulance authority into the sheriff’s department budget for the duration of the fiscal year. West said it should be enough to make full payroll through the end of the present budget.
“If we keep everybody it’s about $39,000 a month and we’ve got money in there but it’s going to be depleted before the end of the budget,” West explained. “We’re hoping by February tax money will come in and we get a big utility check in March. All we were asking the commission was to help us make it to the new budget.”
The action by the commission on Tuesday seemed to have stopped the bleeding for the moment, but the commission will have a new makeup in January and West isn’t sure what the new commission will mean for the budget structure.
“It can, we’re hoping that it doesn’t, but it could reverse everything,” West said.
Commission President Harold McBride and Commissioner Cecil Patterson voted in favor of the redirected funds. Commissioner Gordon Lambert voted against the measure. However, McBride will be off the commission in January and newcomer Michael Brooks was helped by Lambert in his campaign. West worries the new dynamic could reverse the decision.
The money will come as an old coal operation restarts on a piece of property which was deeded two years ago to the county’s economic development authority. The agreement directed the $21,000 a month to the Ambulance authority, but the authority is presenting idle because of budget problems.
“It’s coal royalties money,” said West. “They’re shutdown right now in the process of starting back up, but they voted to put that $21 thousand into the Sheriff’s Department up until July.”
West said there is optimism the coal industry is starting to make a slow rebound and a few mines in the county are restarting operations as the market for met coal increases. The operations could restart the flow of coal severance money to the county.