The Kanawha County Commission passed its budget Tuesday morning, approving of more than $1 million in cuts.
The commission will now send its budget to the State Auditor for approval.
The proposed budget for the 2016-17 Fiscal Year is $51,148,617, which is a $578,865 decrease from last year.
The commission included $500,000 in department cuts, which includes a 3 percent cut for all elected official offices.
Despite getting $300,000 in savings from the county's insurance company, the commission was still forced to make $205,000 in cuts to outside agencies, with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, Camp Virgil Tate, West Virginia University Extension, Charleston Area Alliance and the Chemical Alliance Zone being hit the hardest.
"We're in challenging times and our budget reflects this," said commissioner Dave Hardy.
The coal severance budget decreased by around 25 percent, to $915,522.
The coal severance money is used for paying the salaries of police officers on the East City Patrol, support fire services and other services to the coal producing areas of the county.
The current budget leaves no money for contributions to projects for the coal communities.
Commission President Kent Carper said that it doesn't mean that there will be no support to community projects.
"I'm convinced that things aren't as bleak as they look," Carper said.
The commission was visited by Deno Stanley, the owner of Adelphia Sports Bar & Grille; Keeley Steele, the owner of Bluegrass Kitchen, Tricky Fish and Starlings; Alisa Bailey, the president and CEO of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Carol Fulks, the executive director of the West Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association.
All four spoke in favor of the "brunch bill" that would allow businesses to serve alcohol before 1 p.m. on Sundays.
The business leaders specified that the bill would help earn money for their businesses and that it wasn't about people getting drunk.
"I have never once had someone come in on a Sunday and ask for a shot of whiskey," Stanley said.
Stanley estimated that the bill could enable him to bring in an extra $30,000 to $50,000.
The referendum won't be on the ballot until November, but local businesses plan on starting a campaign to garner support.
The referendum needs 50 percent of the vote to become law.
The brunch bill isn't the only law that the legislature passed that requires a county vote. Lawmakers at the capital also passed a bill that would enable voters to pass a 1 percent sales tax that counties could use to fix the roads.
In order to become law, the referendum would require 60 percent of the vote.
Carper does not support the bill; he has said that fixing the roads is the state's responsibility, not the counties'.
There are two other laws passed that allow the county some authority on roads. One enables the county commission to put up flashing lights on county roads and another allows counties to host sanctioned motor vehicle races on roads, streets or airports under their jurisdiction.
The county also gave $3,132,503 to the Kanawha County Libraries per a provision from 1957.
"This is a 'Leave it to Beaver' law," Carper said. He was annoyed that the library didn't attend the meeting to talk about the money.
Collections are down $400,000 for the county. If they continue to stay down, the county will have to dip into its stabilization fund.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.