Elkins City Council Approves FY 2027, Preserving Core Services for Residents

ELKINS, W.Va. — March 20, 2026 — At its March 19 meeting, the Elkins City Council approved its general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY 2027) that addresses rising costs across city operations while supporting core services and maintaining the City’s property-tax rates at current levels. FY 2027 runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

The Finance Committee, in consultation with the City’s treasurer and the City’s administrative officers, recommended a FY 2027 budget balanced at $7,139,554 in both revenues and expenditures. This is an increase of $548,242, or about 8 percent, compared with Elkins’ FY 2026 budget of $6,591,312.

The City of Elkins’ Finance committee, treasurer, and administrative officers developed the FY 2027 budget in the context of several significant financial pressures, including:  rising health insurance costs; inflation that is affecting the price of materials and services; ongoing debt obligations; and the increased costs associated with public safety services.

The budget also reflects ongoing major capital commitments such as the City Hall renovation project, as well as reduced outside funding support for Elkins’ park system.

In addition to sustaining existing municipal services, the approved budget includes a 1 percent pay increase for hourly employees and continues the City’s commitment to maintaining competitive employee benefits, including health insurance and health savings account contributions.

The budget also addresses funding for outside organizations. In FY 2026, the City provided $176,700 in contributions to partner and community organizations, while requests for FY 2027 totaled $207,200. After prioritizing core services for the City’s residents, approximately $110,000 was available for outside contributions. The Finance Committee recommended generally level funding for most organizations, with some reductions and limited targeted increases.

Among the larger changes, the approved budget does not include a discretionary contribution previously provided to the Elkins-Randolph County Regional Airport Authority; however, the City will continue to fund its required share of the airport’s insurance premium at an annual cost of approximately $20,000. The budget also does not continue a temporary contribution to Randolph County Emergency Medical Services, with Council prioritizing available resources for the city’s own increasingly expensive public safety services.

Elkins’ FY 2027 budget reflects difficult tradeoffs caused by rising costs and limited revenue growth. While the city’s revenues remain stable, they have not increased at a sufficient pace to offset all ongoing cost pressures. As a result, Council prioritized funding for core services such as public safety, infrastructure, and employee benefits.

Next Steps

Council’s adopted FY 2027 budget, also known as the “levy estimate/budget document,” will now be submitted to the West Virginia State Auditor’s office for review of accounting and procedural compliance.

One of the things the auditor’s office will verify is that the budget is “balanced,” i.e., that projected revenues and projected expenditures are equal. This requires estimating both the city’s income and outlays. The auditor’s office will also check for compliance with state budgeting guidelines and accounting best practices.

Like all other governing bodies in the state, Council will then meet on the third Tuesday in April (April 21) to “lay the levy,” i.e., complete the final step in the budget adoption process in accordance with state requirements. (This step includes setting the property tax rate for FY 2027; this rate will not be increased in FY 2027.)

Contributions to Outside Organizations

Council included the following funding amounts for partner and community organizations in the FY 2027 budget, for a total of around $110,000:

Water and Sewer Funds

Under West Virginia State law, revenues and expenditures for the City’s water and sewer utilities must be managed and accounted for entirely separately from the General Fund. No General Fund revenues, such as sales tax, may be used for costs of the Water or Sanitary Funds, and vice versa. The City of Elkins also accounts for its fire department revenues and expenses in a standalone Fire Department Fund.

For more on the rules separating the General Fund from other funds:

https://www.cityofelkinswv.com/departments/finance/explainer-governmental-vs-proprietary-funds

For more about the City of Elkins’ budget process:

https://www.cityofelkinswv.com/departments/finance/budget