STEUBENVILLE — Asking department heads to voluntarily reconsider their funding requests only moved the 2026 budget needle about a half-million dollars, so Jefferson County commissioners said Thursday they’ll do it for them.

After lengthy work sessions keying on revenue stressors within the general fund as well as the financially distressed water and sewer departments, commissioners instructed Auditor E.J. Conn to slash 7.5% from departmental budgets across the board — with the exception of the handful of department heads who, collectively, had voluntarily cut around $500,000 from their budget wish lists — and also ordered a $10 monthly increase in the base-rate for water to help offset an anticipated $700,000 shortfall in that department’s bare-bones 2026 operating budget.

All changes must come to commissioners for a formal vote, but time is running out. The deadline to approve revisions and submit the final 2026 budget is April 1, so all changes must be voted on no later than March 26. Until it’s done, commissioners also are encouraging department heads to pause hiring plans.

“There’s been a lot of kicking the can down the road over the years and now the can is here,” Commissioner Tony Morelli said. “Now it’s our turn, and (we have to decide) what we are going to do.”

Conn said departmental wish lists this year topped $26 million and granting them all means, “we would be using a lot of our carryover.” The county currently has about a $9 million carryover, but that’s money they keep on hand to cover emergency situations and using it to underwrite departmental budgets would very quickly deplete it.

Conn also pointed out department heads typically don’t spend every penny they’re allocated — in 2025, for instance, about $3 million was returned by department heads to the general fund — and while he doesn’t anticipate that changing, “If it did, it would leave us in a very tight spot.”

Conn also said if commissioners did nothing this year, they could survive, but it would make the 2027 budget even more painful.

“If we don’t do something this year, we’re going to have a tougher time doing it next year,” Commissioner Jake Kleineke said.

Commissioner Eric Timmons agreed, adding department heads “could always come back to us at the end of the year if they need more.”

“That’s what people don’t understand is if we cut, they can come back to us (later) and we’ll try to find it,” Morelli said.

Morelli also pointed out the current budget crisis has been years in the making, acknowledging that he’s been part of that process for the past six years himself. He also said health insurance rate hikes, while steep, aren’t solely to blame for the current budget crisis.

“As commissioners, typically if (a department head) asked for this number, we would say OK,” Morelli said. “That’s been going on for years, years and years. And I think that’s the biggest part. … If we really want to fix this problem, let’s identify it first, and I think that’s a big part of it.”

Conn called it a “teachable moment” for all elected officials, saying that going forward they’re “going to have to cut back, it’s going to have to be right-sized.”

“The key is going to be getting them to understand and believe how serious the situation is,” he added.

Commissioners, meanwhile, said increasing the base rate for the first 2,000 gallons of water used means the minimum monthly bill going forward will go from $34.80 to $44.80.

That will generate enough revenue to alleviate the current shortfall, but in 2027 about $800,000 in debt service will come on the books and the department doesn’t have anywhere near the revenue to cover it.

There also are waterlines and hydrants all over the county that are going to have to be replaced sooner rather than later.

“Something’s got to be done as soon as possible,” Conn said.

Water-Sewer District Director Jonathan Sgalla and engineering consultant Andrew Dawson also were asked to calculate the impact of raising the water overage fee by $2.50 — taking it from $10 per thousand to $12.50 per 1,000 gallons used above the minimum billing amount, prorated — as well as what the county must do to balance the budget on the sewer side of the ledger.

Dawson said the situation is dire since the system is aging. Everything from water lines to fire hydrants is nearing the end of their life expectancy and will, at some point, need to be replaced.

“Unless you start replacing lines, the system will eventually cease to function,” he said.

He said the $10 monthly increase in the base water rate “is needed just to get us to the end of the year. Then next year you’re going to have to address the debt service.”

“Because of decisions made in the past, and this goes way back, there hasn’t been any investment or only very minimal investment in infrastructure,” Morelli said. “The reason for that is money, of course. It’s not popular when you’re in office to raise water and sewer rates. I don’t know why it happened, but it’s what’s got us here.”

Kleineke said it “should have been done incrementally a long time ago — and I mean decades ago. If it had been done, it wouldn’t be such a sticker shock.”