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