MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A steady decline in revenues for the City of Morgantown has prompted city officials to consider all options to establish long-term financial stability.
City Councilman Mark Downs said the topic will be front and center during a fiscal sustainability public work session council has scheduled for next Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Downs said a proposed increase in the $3 per week city municipal service fee is expected to be put on the table. This comes in response to several budgetary adjustments that have been made since the Fiscal Year 2027 budget was approved earlier this year.
“We need to put ourselves in a position for stability, the facts just are that we’re falling behind year over year,” Downs said Thursday on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “It’s just about being honest about the math and making disciplined decisions.”
Downs said the city has experienced flat revenues for the the past several years which have averaged around $4 million. Downs said the city needs to account for inflation when it comes to the user fee especially in the area of paving.
“I personally like to see that increase dedicated to the road so that we’re fulfilling a promise and fulfilling that service level that people have come to expect,” Downs said.
According to Downs, the city has also responded with efforts to adjust spending across all municipal departments in order to account for a decline of around $2 million in revenues for FY27. This includes reductions in expenditure requests as well as no cost of living adjustments for city employees. If combined, members of the council feel that the city budget could be financially sustainable in the long term.
“We had to do something as drastic as having no cost of living adjustment for our staff,” Downs said. “We’re going through a department-by-department review, and we had to draw down some partner subsidies.”
The public input session will be hosted ahead of the monthly committee of the whole at Morgantown City Hall on Spruce Street. Any proposals will be considered ahead of a council vote that is required before implementations become official city policy. With the expectation that the negative financial trend will continue if nothing is done on a city level, Downs hopes as many residents as are able to attend the session on April 28.
“Trying to maintain a 2026 system with 2016 dollars just doesn’t work. Costs are up and our dollars are worth less,” Downs said.