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PARKERSBURG — Wood County officials are looking to implement a slight increase in property taxes to be able to meet their projected 2026-27 budget.

The County Commission tentatively approved a $32 million budget Thursday, up from last year’s $31 million-plus budget.

Officials are looking at an increase of 0.26 mills (the tax rate applied to the assessed value of property) that is expected to an additional $330,000.

County Administrator Marty Seufer said state code allows the levy rate to be changed without a public hearing if it increases less than 1%. Wood County’s levy rate of 13.81 mills on Class I property is the third-lowest in the state, he said. This would increase it to 14.07.

One of the biggest factors the county had to deal with was a projected $400,000 increase in its regional jail bill over last year, from $2.5 million to almost $3 million.

“That is a 15% increase, and that is where we are having a little bit of a problem,” Commission President Blair Couch said. “We are hoping there are certain things we can do to reduce it.”

There will be an increase of around 11% just based on rising costs across the board, County Administrator Marty Seufer said.

The new budget includes a 3% pay raise for employees.

The county is entering the last quarter of the current fiscal year and anticipating a projected cost increase in April based on the number of prisoners the county houses at the regional jail.

County officials have looked at other ways to generate revenue, including a 1% percent sales tax in the areas outside municipalities that already have such a tax, but state lawmakers have not been receptive to any of the ideas, Couch said.

The county is still auditing the jail bill and finding additional savings from overcharges.

“If the Legislature would have done anything to lower the impact on the jail bill, or found a way for us to generate revenue other than on the backs of property owners, but I doubt they even considered county issues in their deliberations,” Couch said.

The commission wants to hold a legislative roundtable in the near future to see what state lawmakers might be able to do to address some of these issues.

Next week, the county is going to discuss with representatives from WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center what would is needed for the ambulance service. Officials said they will look at putting an emergency services levy on the ballot in November.

“They have been a good ambulance provider,” Couch said. “We are looking at how we help maintain our great ambulance services.”

Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said Camden Clark has placed ambulances in strategic places around the area to allow for faster responses to certain areas.

Seufer told commissioners that money from building permits are down significantly.

“People just aren’t building,” he said. “It is just dead right now as people just can’t afford it.”

Commissioner Jim Hamric said there is a national trend where people are doing more remodeling work than new construction.

The commission referred the budget to Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzales for review. They are expected to sign off on it next week before it is sent to Charleston for review.

In other business, the county approved a grant application for state funding for the Wood County Day Report Center.

Center Director Hernando Escandon and Grant Coordinator Toni Tiano appeared before the commission Thursday to get approval to apply for the grant.

This is the 21st year they have applied for the grant and they are seeking $500,000 through the state’s Community Grant Program, said Toni Tiano, grant coordinator.

“We are an alternative sentencing program,” center Director Hernando Escandon said. “We provide monitoring, supervision and important in-house treatment services.”

He said their program has a 55% success rate and the unsuccessful ones are usually due to things beyond the center’s ability to help with.

Colombo, who had served on state parole boards, said many prisons have a success rate of around 30% for their programing.

Officials said the success and failure rates are difficult to track, especially over a number of years. However, failures usually result in additional arrests which would be able to be tracked.

Couch said in other parts of the state, some county governments are looking at forming boards to review the cases of people arrested and determining whether someone should be kept in a jail, be granted home confinement or sent to a day report center if they are nonviolent.

“This is something we are really going to have to consider, based on the increase in the jail bill,” Couch said.

The commission unanimously approved the grant application.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com