Huntington City Council passed the 2011 fiscal budget after making $867,861 in cuts which will lead to 20-day furloughs for city employees and an estimated 10 layoffs.
The budget, which was approved on March 22, took the region’s recession-weakened economy into account and worked on ways to make the budget work while eliminating furloughs and layoffs that would effect the police and fire departments.
In the proposed budget, furloughs and layoffs were projected within the fire and police departments. The Police Department was expected to layoff eight civilian employees which would have left the department with only one civilian employee. The Fire Department was also going to have to layoff all three of their civilian employees. These layoffs would have left the clerical work in the hands of the officers of these departments.
In the approved budget, council members decided to make the cuts elsewhere and restore money to the Huntington Fire and Police Departments. After restoring $432,155 to the fire department’s $10.1 million budget and nearly the same amount to the police department’s budget, these two entities will now be saved from the layoffs and furloughs that were expected by the projected budget, yet the police and fire departments will still have to make combined reductions of over $300,000 after the elimination of the furloughs and layoffs that were outlined in the mayor’s proposed budget.
While the fire and police departments have been saved from furloughs and layoffs, the money added to their budgets, according to Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe, will have to be cut from departments and services. Other options include a one percent occupation tax or raising the city’s user fee from $3 to $4. This $1 increase in the user fee could raise $1.5 million in the next year.
This one percent occupation tax could be implemented under the home rule plan, which was started in 2008. Under this plan, if the one percent occupation tax were approved then the weekly $3 user fee would have to be repealed.
Other reductions include $26,573 for legal, $32,971 in building maintenance, $27,918 in finance, 35,987 in engineering, $155,596 in the motor pool, $100 in purchasing, $102,345 from the floodwall, $198,871 from police, $120,000 from fire and $165,000 from personnel.
Another cut that appears within the approved budget is for the Huntington-Cabell-Huntington Animal Shelter. There will be a $25,000 reduction from the usual $100,000 contribution. This budget reduction will result in the layoff of one part-time dog warden position and the inability to fill one full-time dog warden position that is currently vacant according to Shelter director Anita Asbury.
As a way to increase funding, Wolfe will bring a “revenue-generating” proposal to council members that could eliminate the need for furloughs and layoffs.
When Wolfe is ready to present his plan, the Huntington Finance Committee will hold three meetings. The first of these meetings will allow for Wolfe to explain his plan to the committee while the second meeting will allow for comments from the public. At the third and final meeting, there will be committee debate and a vote on whether the proposal will move on to the full council.
The Financial Committee hopes that Wolfe will be ready to start these meetings within a few weeks because the approved Huntington city budget will take effect on July 1 when the 2011 fiscal year begins.
City of Huntington Proposed Budgets by Major Departmental Expenditure and Share of Total Budgets 2009-2011
Revenue Source | Amount 2009 | % | Amount 2010 | % | Amount 2011 | % |
Police | 10,982,695 | 26% | 11,594,788 | 26% | 10,741,819 | 27% |
Fire | 9,991,781 | 24% | 10,486,344 | 24% | 10,121,153 | 26% |
Insurance Programs | 8,200,075 | 20% | 8,423,317 | 19% | 8,423,317 | 21% |
Streets | 1,954,792 | 4% | 2,538,246 | 6% | 2,142,703 | 5% |
Contributions | 1,439,949 | 3% | 1,404,260 | 3% | 1,194,534 | 3% |
Other | 8,648,558 | 21% | 10,171,921 | 23% | 6,919,213 | 17% |
Total | 41,217,850 | 100% | 44,618,876 | 100% | 39,542,739 | 100% |
Source: City of Huntington
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