Huntington Budget

033011-JHY-Budget

Column Inches: 13.9 inch

JOHN YEINGST

As the Mayor of Huntington, named the worst city in the country and the most unhealthy city, Kim Wolfe still had the ability to present his State of the City address, proposing that there would be even more cuts involving the 2012 budget.

At the State of the City Address, Wolfe proposed that the city of Huntington truly does face an economic issue but organizations such as the police department, the fire department, city members and several others having been putting for a tremendous amount of effort to keep this city in a healthy state.

Wolfe stated, “Although, the proposed budget has all employees that were previously on the reduced work week, back to five days and at 100% of the their pay, we have still had to face the reality of making additional cuts.”

Although the city passed the occupation tax, Wolfe has yet to change the budget. Since the proposed budget, 1/3 of the pay administered to workers had been reduced 10%. It appears that unfortunately there must be more cuts and reductions in order help the citizens of Huntington.

Roads and streets of Huntington have been one of the largest, if not the largest issue among the Huntington budget. Wolfe proposed that the budget includes spending of $600,000 on street paving in order to get ride of potholes, which currently plague the city. This is said to begin during the spring of 2012.

Wolfe stated that evening, that the city currently had a balance of $560,000 and hopes that there will be an increase of $440,000 by June 30, 2012 so that they could reach the one million dollar mark.

Another budget proposal involved collections and Wolfe stated that since hiring the new law firm to perform Business and Occupation Tax audits, $700,000 has been obtained.

One thing that was brought up at the mayor’s state of the city address in February, was a proposal for a new type of software that would in turn allow the city to obtain documents in a more advanced way than the state has been used to seeing. What he proposed this would do was increase the efficiency of the city’s government. Along with technology, Wolfe hopes to increase communication among the city by encouraging individuals to use Facebook and Twitter.

Law enforcement reported that there has been an increased reduction of crime in the city. In a quote from the Herald Dispatch, beginning 2007, the overall crime in the City has been reduced by 21% in which 6.8% of the reduction occurred this year. The department has administered over $3.2 million in grants and the Bureau recovered over $763,000 in stolen property.

The proposed budget has had a number of mixed outcomes, some being positive and some being negative. With the weight of the proposed budget, Wolfe’s position as Mayor will be revealed with weighted months to come.

Account	Percentage
B&O Tax	40%
Property Tax	11%
Municipal Service	14%
City Service Fees	11%
Utility Tax	5%
Other	19%

Source: 2011-2012 City of Huntington Proposed Budget

Account	Percentage
Fire Department	24%
Police Department	26%
Insurance Programs	19%
Streets	4%
Grants	5%
Other	22%

Source: 2011-2012 City of Huntington Proposed Budget

Proposed Budget

Department: FY 2009-2010 FY 2010-2011

Fire: $10,252,681 $10,362,836

Police: $11,004,524 $10,977,181

Expenditures

Department: FY 2009-2010 FY 2010-2011 FY 2011-2012

Fire: $10,396,405 $10,372,117 $10,362,836

Police: $10,839,725 $11,070,353 $10,977,181

Source: 2011-2012 City of Huntington Proposed Budget

Sidebar:

Following Mayor Kim Wolfe’s State of the City address, departments such as the Huntington Fire Department and the Huntington Police Department revealed a major decrease in both departments’ budgets for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. This created several issues for mostly the fire department but the police department has continued to increase its ability to reduce crime.

The Fire Department saw a 13% increase in the number of calls responded to in this year alone, after the number of individuals on staff was reduced. Along with the decrease of staff came an increase of a fifth Deputy Chief.

Chief Skip Holbrook has fortunately helped reduce the overall crime rate for the third year in a row. The crime rate has been reduced by 21% with a 6.8% drop in this past year. $763,000 in stolen property was recovered by the Criminal Investigation Bureau and administered of $3.2 million in grant dollars.

Source: The Herald Dispatch/Huntington Budget

Charleston City Council Meeting Follow-Up

A city council meeting took place in Charleston, WV after the council members discussed only one thing on the agenda. Maintenance was a main focus of the city council meeting. They started off by revealing the issues which was the need for new lights at the civic center. The civic center is a municipal complex in downtown Charleston which consists of the Little Theater and the Charleston Convention Center. Being one of the most attention grabbing places in the city, the council felt the need to advance the large building by bring up the topic of electricity. Though there are several lights out in the center, one of the main concerns involved the saving of electricity and power usage. Members discussed that the building was adding up hundreds of thousands of dollars in electrical bill usage and felt that they should switch to new, more advanced light bulbs. Although these light bulbs are more expensive, the necessity for this money saving addition was necessary. They passed the bill to spend money on new lights and the issues concerning energy-friendly light bulbs went into consideration after the discussion of expenses needed to go towards the bulbs.

Charleston City Council Meeting

Tonight I will be going to a city council meeting that will take place in Charleston, WV in which they will discuss new additions involving lights for the Charleston Civic Center.

Meeting in Belle

A town hall meeting took place in Belle, WV tonight to discuss the appointment of Kim Holmes as the new mayor. The people came out to hear the discussion of what would be changed among this small town but instead it turned into a dramatic scene involving the people of the town and the council members. Truths were heard as the people backed up Kim Holmes in her decision of whether or not she wanted to become mayor or not. Several audience members told her they loved and cared about her but they just didn't feel it was her time to be mayor. Holmes actually took the stand and told the people she was in no condition to become the mayor of Belle. As much as she cares about the town and the residents, she felt that she already had enough trouble on her hands and didn't want to dedicate herself to something she wouldn't be able to fully commit to. The people also brought up the fact that there should be an elections involving the residents of the town, it shouldn't just be decided by the committee. Some of the town's people said they didn't even know the woman and felt it was their right to decided if they wanted her as the new mayor. Kathy Yates spoke out for the people of the committee as she apparently always does and residents feel that she needs more support as well. Tears were shed by one of the elder male council members as he spoke of how he personally feels about the town and that is time for a change. This was a rare moment that really touched the citizens of Belle. In the end, the council decided 4-1 to appoint Kim Holmes as the new mayor.

City of Belle

Tonight I will be going to a city meeting in Belle which will bring up the topic of a new candidate for election after the previous mayor had passed away.

City Council Meeting Follow-Up

There were several issues that were discussed at the city council meeting Monday evening. Not only was the city council there to discuss new ideas involving the city of Huntington, two local residents were also there to speak of issues involving the city. The first man seemed to have an issue with the cities ability to fine him for not cutting vines that were growing along the border of his fence and his neighbors. In the beginning, he came off as man with just a valid issue but he eventually went on to bring up the problem involving the graffiti on campus and vandalism of Huntington. He rambled on for over 10 minutes about how his grandparents died on the street from doing drugs and proceeded to talk about evolution of the man which was entirely off topic. The man and a city council member has issues and it even escalated to the possibility of a physical confrontation. This was the first time I had experienced something of this magnitude within a city council meeting. One of the topics on the agenda included the 50th anniversary of Gino's pizza being open and a party would be held Friday and Saturday. Another topic included the lights on 3rd Avenue including the traffic signal. They expressed the need for the state to be notified of this problem before any accidents began to happen. One more topic was the purchasing of four high quality cameras for the police station as well as a 2011 Ford Expedition for the fire department at a cost of $27,000.

City Council Meeting

Tonight at 7:30, I will be attending a Huntington City Council meeting. The evening will consist of a several different topics such as reports of the Mayor, reading of ordinance, and discussion of the good and welfare.