Budget Story

03-30-11-ARS-Budget

By: Alyssa Salyers

After combing the budget to find money for paving city streets, Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe hit a few financial potholes of his own.  He soon came to the conclusion that filling potholes will require sacrifice and that job vacancies in the fire department will remain unfilled. 

   

Police Chief Skip Holbrook and Fire Chief Creig Moore have been asked to shave thousands of dollars from their budgets in order to help fund the city’s paving project.

Moore identified $90,000 that could be cut from the fire department budget without adversely affecting services.

After a line-by-line review, $100,000 was cut from the police department budget.

The mayor’s proposed budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year is flat.  The proposal shows minimal revenue growth and limits new expenditures to the purchase of computer software and street paving.

The $39.3 million 2010-2011 budget actually called for a 10% pay decrease.  Many city offices were closed one day per week and workers worked fewer hours and collected smaller paychecks. 

Mark Bates, council chairman said there were layoffs in the 2010-2011 budget that were later restored.

Wolfe’s $39.2 million budget proposal for the current fiscal year restores the five day work week for employees whose pay and hours were reduced by 10% last year, but suggests laying off six workers and leaving other job vacancies unfilled. 

The proposed 2011-2012 budget includes pay raises for the city clerk and finance director.

With Huntington’s tax reform package now approved by the West Virginia Home Rule Board, Huntington’s budget will likely change to reflect the increased revenue from the 1% occupation tax and 1% sales tax.  The sales tax goes into effect on Jan 1, while the occupation tax is set to begin on July 1.  The B & O tax reduction included in the measure goes into effect on Jan. 1 as well.

Wolfe is proposing $440,000 into the city’s contingency fund next fiscal year in order to bring the fund to the $1 million level necessary to keep the city’s BBB+ bond rating.

     

Fire and Police Department Sidebar

Mayor Kim Wolfe’s 2011-2012 budget proposal is flat, but much like the streets of Huntington, full of potholes.

Paving is a priority this fiscal year.  The importance of fixing the city’s streets looms so large that both the police and fire departments have been asked to trim their budgets in an attempt to allocate several hundred thousand dollars more to the paving project.

Police Chief Skip Holbrook was asked to trim $200,000 a year, but said that cutting more than $134,000 would adversely affect the services his department provides.

In a line-by-line review Holbrook identified a $10,000 savings in fuel costs, and cut the furniture budget to zero.

In the end, $100,000 was cut from the police department budget.

Fire Chief Creig Moore said budget cuts were not possible in the fire department.

A line-by-line review of the the budget for the fire department is currently being conducted.

Wolfe’s budget called for leaving vacancies in the fire department unfilled.

Proposed

Departments	Fiscal Year 2009-2010	Fiscal Year 2010-2011	Fiscal Year 2011-2012 EST THUR 6/30/11
Police Department	11,004,524	10,977,181	10,904,958
Fire Department	10,252,681	10,362,836	10,272,836

Expenses

Departments	Fiscal Year 2009-2010	Fiscal Year 2010-2011	Fiscal Year 2011-2012
Police Department	10,839,725	11,070,353	10,977,181
Fire Department	10,396	10,373,117	10,362,836

-30-