The process of budget planning has begun for many of our governmental entities.

If you follow along with the Legislature, our state lawmakers received Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year Wednesday during his first State of the State Address.

Our state reporter, Steven Allen Adams, will, no doubt, be keeping a close eye on the movement there, especially with all the discussion of a $400 million hole, which is still up for debate depending on whether you speak to people connected to Morrisey or the now-U.S. Sen. Jim Justice.

There undoubtedly are different accounting methods being used now than what were in place the last several years, and that will include different thoughts on how to allot and distribute funding. It will be interesting to see all of that unfold in the coming weeks.

Closer to home, Weirton Council held the first of its budget workshops Wednesday night as the city begins planning for its 2025-2026 fiscal year, which will begin July 1.

Thankfully, there hasn’t been any talk yet of having a workshop at 8 a.m. on a Saturday as was done when crafting the budgets for the current fiscal year. While I’ve been through this process 20-plus times now as part of my career in local journalism, the idea of getting up that early to sit in a room listening to people crunch numbers isn’t exactly my idea of a fun weekend activity.

For Wednesday’s meeting, I got back into town about a half-hour before things got started (possibly more on that at a later time).

Taking into account current revenue estimates of close to $23 million, as well as a projected $6.5 million carryover, city officials and staff are expected to set a budget of just under $30 million. Keep in mind, that doesn’t mean the City of Weirton will automatically have $30 million once we turn that calendar page to July, it’s just that’s what is expected to be available throughout the year once you add everything together.

Wednesday’s discussions involved an overview of the expected revenues, as well as the various requests of several departments – in particular Weirton Police, Weirton Fire, Public Works, Inspections, and Planning and Development.

There wasn’t much debate in years’ past, which I imagine is primarily because this is the first time for the majority of city council to go through this process. Remember, five of the seven councilmembers have only been on the job for about six weeks. It can all be a lot to take in if you’re not used to having to go through all those numbers on such a scale.

Take into account they are on a deadline, and it absolutely can put a great deal of pressure on someone.

Just because the budget doesn’t kick in until July 1 doesn’t mean they have until then to work on it. Weirton officials (and most other local governmental officials, for that matter) must submit their budgets to the state for review and approval by March 28.

The hope for Weirton Council is to have the process completed in time for the next regular meeting on March 10 so the budget can be voted on. Otherwise, a special meeting must be scheduled. A second workshop already has been planned for this coming Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the council chambers of the Weirton Municipal Building.

These are open to the public, although council seldom takes comments from residents during workshops. Still, it can be both interesting and eye-opening to sit in and observe. If nothing else, it gives one an opportunity to see where funding goes and how expensive things actually are these days.

If I’m keeping track of things, the next focus should be on areas including parks and libraries, and that should definitely be an interesting discussion considering some of the activity in those areas in the last couple of years.

(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @CHowellWDT)