Parkersburg City Council President Andrew Borkowski shares his opinion on an allocation of money during the final budget hearing in council chambers Wednesday. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

PARKERSBURG — On the final day of budget hearings, Parkersburg City Council met as the Committee as a Whole to amend and approve the municipal budget. There were four total council proposed amendments, with only two that passed to be reflected in the budget as well as the administration amendment which included property tax valuations.

Council member Mike Reynolds amended to move $10,000 from the $50,000 Discovery World line item to go towards the holiday lights in the park.

“In my opinion, they’re really fizzling out,” said Reynolds. “I’d like to see them be a little more designed like the holiday display in Gallipolis.”

Reynolds said the $10,000 would be used to improve the park to make a better holiday lighting experience.

Members of the council agreed, but Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl said she struggled with taking funds from Discovery World because it brings so much of the youth and community together.

Parkersburg City Council members Chris Rexroad and Rob Moore listen to Finance Director Eric Jiles discuss the property tax valuations during the final budget hearing before approval Wednesday. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

“We don’t even know the status of Holiday in the Park – I know there have been some resignations and there is a new person in charge of this,” she said. “I don’t think we should do it until we know the status of Holiday in the Park.”

Mayor Tom Joyce recommended if the council were to move the $10,000 for the holiday lights, they should move it to the line item for departmental supplies under the parks and recreation fund.

Council member Zak Huffman said he agreed the holiday lights in the park needed revamped and Discovery World would still have $40,000 in the budget.

Council member Rob Moore said $10,000 would not be enough and they would have to end up obtaining more funds somehow to fully revamp the event.

The amendment passed 7-2 with Council members Roger Brown and Andrew Borkowski opposed.

To piggyback off the amendment, Kuhl suggested $2,500 from the Wood County Recreation line item, with $60,000 proposed for departmental supplies under the parks and recreation fund to support the holiday lights.

Kuhl said she spoke with the individuals who host the fishing derby and said they were okay with the council amending their funds because the derby wasn’t planned to take place this year.

The amendment passed in an 8-1 vote, with Borkowski opposed.

Two amendments, which failed, proposed allocating $10,000 from the SW Resources line item to go towards the American Legion Post #15 and a small-business program.

Kuhl proposed to move $10,000 from SW Resources to put into the American Legion because the legion was facing some financial difficulties, according to Kuhl.

“These men and women have fought for our country and American Legion is having a tough time, they don’t have the resource money that comes in like it used to,” she said.

Moore said he felt strongly about supporting the American Legion because they took care of so many individuals over the years.

Rexroad said SW Resources is a subsidiary of Goodwill so they could receive more funding from Goodwill, their owners.

“I wish I wasn’t in this situation to have to decide between two worthy causes,” said Borkowski. “I see both sides of it and I don’t really want to take away from SW Resources.”

The amendment failed in a 5-4 vote with Dave McCrady, Tuck, Reynolds, and Borkowski opposed.

Following Kuhl’s proposal, Huffman asked to amend the budget and proposed moving $10,000 from SW Resources to go towards Downtown business development. He said he had been working with Development Director Ryan Barber about a small-business program to continue encouraging growth on Market Street.

“We’ve had 14 new restaurants over the last three years and this is the most progress I’ve seen downtown in probably 15 years,” said Huffman.

Rexroad said SW Resources was funded well in 2025 and he thought the city’s budget money should go towards helping city projects.

Council members agreed the small-business project was a good idea but they didn’t want to move any money until more of the program had been developed.

It was agreed upon that more details and guidelines needed to be established before amending the budget.

Huffman changed his amendment to move the $10,000 from SW Resources to the contingency fund which currently had $50,000 in the proposed budget. Finance Director Eric Jiles said council had full jurisdiction over the contingency fund and that money had to be approved by council when allocated.

Brown said in his opinion they didn’t need to move any money around since there wasn’t a set-and-stone program ready yet like Huffman described.

“You guys have been discussing this for a long time to get this initiated and we can do a budget revision whenever this happens,” said Kuhl.

Barber said he and Huffman could draft a concept of the small-business starter program and have it ready in a month.

Reynolds withdrew his second on the motion and Huffman withdrew his amendment proposal after determining the steps that needed to be taken before allocating any money.

Jiles reported current property tax revenue increased $141,048 based on current valuations. The council passed the administration amendment in a unanimous vote with all members of council present.

After three days of discussion, the fiscal year 2026-2027 municipal budget was approved as amended.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com