With a contentious budget process behind them, the Hancock County Commission will submit its budget to the Auditor’s Office today. The Commission met Thursday and also approved the Opioid Fund allocations which were critical to the Sheriff’s Department which previously had been told a 15% budget to their department was possible.
Opioid awards are contingent on a memorandum of understanding tailored to their program and included the following:
**New Cumberland Ambulance Service – $330,000.00;
**Hancock County Sheriff’s Office – $288,700;
**WVU Extension Office – $50,000.00
**Firefighters Association of Hancock County -$180,000.00 (To be divided equally among the County’s volunteer fire department;
**Bless This Child Ministry – $19,000.00
**Mount Olive Baptist Church – $15,607. 00
An application from Family Care Excellence was submitted for $800,000.00 and then reduced to $100,000.00 to construct a men’s dormitory in Chester. The organization did not supply the information requested by Mike Lucas, legal counsel for the Commission.
Another round of Opioid Funds is expected. Commissioner Paul Cowey moved to establish a timeline for considering the next round of opioid funding applications and awarding funds. The motion was tabled:
In other business, the Commissioners:
**Appointed Amy Franey Cunningham to the Hancock County Museum Commission;
**Approved Model 2 of the General County and Coal Severance Budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027; This model provides a 5% reduction to the Sheriff’s Office which was the original amount Sheriff Scott Gittings thought his Department could sustain. At one point in budget talks a 15% cut was considered. The approved model contained $288,700.00 to the Sheriff’s Office which will fund cameras, salaries of two deputies and canine salaries; $52,696.00 for the Prosecutor’s Office.
**A Memorandum of Understanding between the Hancock County Commission and the Brooke County Commission regarding the establishment of a local emergency planning committee was approved;
**Approval was given to pay the County’s bills of $195,409 and the purchasing card of $37,034.34;
**Heard from the WVU Extension/4-H office that 4-H Camp registration is full;
**Set the next Commission Meeting for May 28, 2026 at 2:30 p.m.
