KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. –The Kanawha County Commission unanimously approved the fiscal year 2026–2027 budget during its meeting on Thursday.
The total budget is $63,473,900.
Kanawha County Commission Director of Finance Kim Fleck told commissioners that the budget was balanced to address expenses, including the increasing jail bill, which is approximately $500,000, and PEIA costs, which increased to $250,000 this year.
She also said that revenue increased to $1.9 million, and tax revenue increased to $300,000.
The commission in an earlier meeting, created the Jail Bill Reduction and Opioid Diversion Task Force to reduce unnecessary incarceration, improve public safety outcomes, and expand access to evidence-based supervision, treatment, and recovery services for justice-involved individuals.
The task force is set to be composed of representatives from the county, the prosecutor’s office, Day Report, and Home Confinement.
Commission President Ben Salango said the commission hopes the task force will help reduce some of its financial strain.
“The goal is when that program is up and running that we’ll be able to save a million dollars a year, that’s the goal, we’ll see if that happens or not, but we have received resumes for the folks who are going to work on the task force, that will alleviate some of the pressure on the commission with respect to our expenses,” Salango said.
Commissioner Lance Wheeler said this was the most difficult budget he has worked on; however, he believes they were able to find a way to make fiscally responsible cuts.
“We are not cutting essential services, we are not raising taxes, we’re doing what every American, and Kanawha County here in West Virginian’s are doing at their kitchen table as they look at grocery prices, restaurants, child care, and they had to balance a budget, and that’s what we did, and I think this has been responsible, I think that this has been good budgeting,” Wheeler said.
He said they should be satisfied with the budget they produced.
“At the end of the day, we have a balanced budget, by state code, and one that we can be proud of, and the constituents can be proud of as well,” Wheeler said.
Commissioner Natalie Tennant said she saw some items cut that she did not want reduced; however, she said she appreciates the hard work that went into making those difficult decisions to achieve a balanced budget.
“I appreciate the work we have done together, and that we have done with staff and we all just know that everything is a little tighter now,” Tennant said.
Also, during the meeting, they approved the coal severance budget during the meeting. The coal severance budget is derived from a tax imposed on the extraction of coal, with revenues distributed to coal-producing counties and the state.
The budget is $975,000.
Fleck told commissioners that the tax is projected to decrease by 30%.
She said that, despite this, they were able to ensure funding remains available for projects in the Upper Kanawha Valley that the commission wanted to continue supporting.
“We kept senior services, fire safety to continue your contributions to the fire department, continued funding law enforcement for the area, continue funding the county clean-ups in that area, those were the areas that you all stressed that you would like to continue,” Fleck said.