Kanawha County commissioners finalized the county's budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Tuesday morning, making a long list of cuts official.
The vast majority of Kanawha County's budget - 85 percent - is made up of property taxes. But since those have gone down in the past year, largely due to the bankruptcy of Alpha Natural Resources mines in the county, estimates for next year are about $578,865 less.
The rest of the county money is made up of taxes (like gas and oil severance, horse and dog racing, wine and liquor and hotel occupancy taxes), reimbursements, grants, video lottery and county revenue.
The bulk of the county's $51 million goes to government and public safety expenses.
Total government covers all of the county's elected offices, except for the sheriff. It also covers two outside agencies the county supports - the Charleston Area Alliance and the West Virginia University Extension Service.
Kanawha County gives more than $17 million to public safety, which includes the sheriff, volunteer fire departments, emergency services, the regional jail and the humane association.
It also contributes 10.5 percent to culture and recreation, the bulk of which is given to the library, as per a levy that passed in November 2014.
The rest goes to parks and recreation, with $75,000 to Camp Virgil Tate and $640,000 to the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is another required contribution.
A minimal part of the budget, .76 percent, goes to health and sanitation.
Almost every line item in the budget was cut or remained the same. Only three saw an increase in funding - the regional jail, the visitors bureau and magistrate court.
The increase for the magistrate court was because an employee who didn't receive benefits left and one who does receive benefits was hired.
The visitors bureau and the regional jail are required fees.
Kanawha County is invoiced for the number of people from the county who are in regional jail.
"I think every county is struggling with that," said Kim Fleck, the Kanawha County director of finance. "Ours is just higher than others."
The line items that saw the biggest cuts were generally outside agencies. The WVU Extension Service, the Charleston Area Alliance, the Board of Health and Camp Virgil Tate were among those that were hit the hardest.
The county also anticipates to receiving 55.6 percent less in state grant funding in the upcoming year.
Some of the cuts were boosted by the coal severance fund. Although the fund has gone down significantly in the county, dropping below $1 million, the commission used coal severance money to make up cuts to parks and recreation and some cuts to the sheriff and volunteer fire departments.
The county is projecting a little more than $900,000 in coal severance taxes in the next year.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.