LEWISBURG (WVDN) – The Greenbrier County Commission reviewed the upcoming 2022-2023 budget, poll workers, and new hires during the Tuesday, Mar. 22, meeting.
Next year’s county budget currently totals $16,247,464 and will soon be presented to the West Virginia Auditor’s office.
The new budget also comes with a 6 percent pay increase for all county deputies and a 3 percent raise for all other county employees.
After a bill passed by the West Virginia Legislature this past year, a 10 percent raise in salary for elected officials would be included, with commissioner Tammy Shifflett-Tincher noting it had not gone up since 2014. Since then, she noted, all other county position salaries have gone up by 14 percent.
“The county fiscally is in a good place, we recognize we all work very hard to be very conservative in our spending,” said Shifflett-Tincher. “We are very cautious [of] what changes may occur in our budgets due to the possible loss of property. Personal property tax loss and business and inventory tax loss from the proposed resolution that will be on the ballot in November.”
In other business:
– The commission approved the Victims of Crime Act grant applications. These Department of Justice grants fund victim advocate positions in both the Greenbrier County Prosecutors Office and sheriff’s office. The program expects a cut this coming year. After the 23 percent cut in federal funding last year, West Virginia made up the difference, keeping both positions in place. The state funds also provided about $5,000 over the original grant amount, allowing the office to update its equipment. This year, a cut of up to 66 percent is expected, which will likely be announced in October. The total amount requested is 43,172 for the prosecutor’s office and $47,229 for the sheriff’s office, with the sheriff’s office covering health insurance.
– Two new hires for the Greenbrier County 911 Center were approved. Director Mike Honaker noted, “two vacant positions that don’t involve any additional spending or budget impact. We normally keep a vacancy [or two] all year just as a cushion, as long as we’re functioning and we’re fully operational. … This will bring us to full staff. They would start on April 4.”
– The list of poll workers prepared by county clerk Robin Loudermilk, both Democratic and Republican, were approved.
– Consideration on a “compromise and settlement of condemnation action regarding the northern courthouse alleyway” was delayed to the next meeting after an executive session.
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