Wood County Commission preparing for annual budget discussions

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - The Wood County Commission last year completed a budget for the current fiscal year just as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Later this month-in the midst of the same pandemic-it will hold hearings on its spending plan for the year beginning in July.

According to Commission President Blair Couch, the county already knows insurance costs for county employees will rise in the coming year.

At the same time, the commission wants to continue with plans to raise some base employee salaries-to $29,500-while continuing to fund the agencies they’ve funded in the past.

”We’ll continue to receive requests at the county commission from governmental agencies and even non-governmental non-profits who wish to be included in our budget,” Couch says. “I think there will be some discussion about some of the people we fund through the hotel-motel tax, and how they get funded.”

Couch says hotel-motel tax collections, which help pay for tourism promotion, have declined sharply this past year.

He has hoped money for theater organizations will be included in the next round of federal stimulus act legislation.