W. Va. Code § 7-7-7a: Limit of budget expenditures.

(a) No county clerk, circuit clerk, sheriff, county assessor or prosecuting attorney may, without the approval of the county commission, spend or obligate, before the end of the calendar year, more than fifty percent of the funds allocated for his or her office in the fiscal year budget, in any fiscal year where the person holding the office is leaving office due to either resignation or the results of an election.

(b) As used in subsection (a) of this section, "spend or obligate" includes, but is not limited to, increasing employee salaries to a level that would create a deficit in the budget if paid during the remainder of the fiscal year in addition to other anticipated expenditures.