Bleak Budget for Huntington

033011-SLT-budgetanalysis

BY SAM TURLEY

THE PARTHENON

As the country suffers through another year of economic hardship, cities across the U.S. are feeling the pain, and Huntington is no exception.

As the recession continues its impact, the city will have to cut funding once again - a trend over recent fiscal years.

In Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe's proposed budget for the 2012 fiscal year, funding was cut across many of the city's departments, including layoffs of city employees and reduction in allocations across the board.

"With all that we have done and all the cuts that we have made, it has not been enough for us to weather this economic storm," Wolfe said in his 2011 State of the City address. "We must cut more and ask for even more sacrifice from our employees and our citizens."

In each of the past three fiscal years, the city budget has shrunk. In the 2010 fiscal year, the budget was $44.9 million. In the 2011 fiscal year, the approved budget reduced by 2.5 percent to $43.8 million. For the 2012 fiscal year, the budget proposed by Wolfe is $41.8 million, a reduction of 4 percent.

One of the biggest reductions in funding comes for the city's insurance programs. The proposed budget of $8 million is $300,000 less than the 2011 budget.

The proposed budget also included a reduction in floodwall funding, shrinking by $100,000 to $1.4 million.

Another cost-cutting measure in the proposed budget for 2012 is the layoff of eight city employees. However, under the proposed budget, Huntington City Hall will return to a 5-day workweek, but employees whose pay was decreased in a cost-cutting measure in last year's budget will not have their prior salaries restored.

The Cabell-Wayne Animal Shelter lost $100,000 in funding in the budget process. The shelter lost $25,000 in the 2011 fiscal year allocations.

One of the few areas that received an increase in funding is the city's budget for road paving. Allocation for paving is $1 million for the upcoming fiscal year, a 66 percent increase compared to the current fiscal year's allocation of $600,000.

However, one element not considered in the budget is the new municipal occupation tax, which will be implemented July 1. The tax replaces the $3 per week user fee, but the tax was not approved before Wolfe submitted his budget proposal.

Huntington is far from the only city facing budget cuts. Cities across the United States are also cutting funding because of a reduced budget.

"Nearly every public official in the country is being forced to make tough choices and decisions that affect the people they are elective to serve," Wolfe said in his State of the City address.

Utica, New York - a city with a statistically similar population size and demographic to Huntington - had to take $1.9 million from their rainy day fund in order to balance their 2012 fiscal year budget, according to the Utica Observer-Dispatch.

Larger cities are also cutting their budgets. San Diego is reviewing ways to combat a projected budget deficit of $56.7 million in the upcoming fiscal year, according to KGTV San Diego.

Although Huntington, like many other cities, is still suffering from the recession, MSNBC.com's Adversity Index shows hope for the city. According to the index, Huntington is beginning to enter an economic recovery mode, as is the state as a whole.