The Kanawha County Commission enacted a self-imposed moratorium on all community and recreational projects at their meeting Thursday.
The moratorium is part of a budget plan put forward by Commission President Kent Carper and Finance Director Kim Fleck.
The commission is down $500,000, despite projections that they would see a revenue increase of $200,000 this year.
In order to balance the budget, the commission is proposing $1 million in cuts.
Along with the moratorium, the commission is looking to make cuts in funding to the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, Charleston Area Alliance, Camp Virgil Tate, Kanawha County Parks and Recreation, West Virginia University Extension, Kanawha Valley Senior Services, the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association, and the Chemical Alliance Zone of West Virginia.
Of those organizations, the one with the largest budget is the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation, with a budget of $1.4 million. The commissioners floated the idea of cutting $100,000 from the parks budget, which would come at a time when the Parks commission is trying to raise money to rehabilitate Schoenbaum Stadium in Coonskin Park.
"They need to learn to live with less than they're spending," Carper said.
County elected officials have been asked to absorb the increase in retirement payments that they face this year, and the county has asked them to make cuts of 3 percent to their non-payroll lines.
Despite the money crunching, the commission still found a way to give out money Thursday, largely through non-general funds.
The largest expense was $97,915 for a Web EOC mapper that would update Kanawha Metro 911 and the Web EOC's technological support.
The commission pledged to give $50,000 to the Charleston Area Spay Neuter Center, so that it can find a building in which to operate. There are about 199,000 stray animals within a 60 mile radius of Charleston, said Lisa Mitchell, the president of the Spay Neuter Center. Mitchell proposed that the $50,000 would help reduce the number of animals at the animal shelter by about 3,000.
But Carper was looking to pick a fight when Chuck Blair, the mayor of East Bank, asked for $15,000 to repair the roof of the East Bank Fire Department.
"The days of the ATM machine here at the courthouse are over," Carper said, before giving East Bank the $15,000 it needs to fix the roof.
The commission also decided to give the town of Pratt $10,000 for a new kitchen.
Commissioners also spent some time talking about the county's response to Winter Storm Jonas.
C.W. Sigman, the county fire coordinator, said the 911 center received about 400 calls over the course of the storm. Of those calls, 54 crashes were reported.
Throughout the storm there were 372 disabled vehicles called in, Sigman said.
The commission decided to table a $25,000 request from the Kanawha County Solid Waste Authority.
The Solid Waste Authority has met with officials from the Department of Environmental Protection and the city of South Charleston and is waiting to meet with those from the city of Charleston. But it will still be months before the Solid Waste Authority is in a position to lose less money than they currently are, said James Young, the authority's executive director.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or @drdesrochers on Twitter.