Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 reflects the hardships the town is facing in the wake of the national economic crisis.
In the State of the City address on Feb. 13, Wolfe said the current fiscal year budget was cut by 10 percent from last year’s budget in reaction to the current national economic crisis and an estimated 10 percent reduction in proposed revenue for this year
The proposed budget has been cut from last year’s proposed budget of $44.6 million to approximately $39.5 million, a difference of $5.1 million.
The cuts in the proposed budget expenditures were across the board except for the budget under the heading of mayor, which saw an increase of approximately $2000. City Council and insurance budgets are the only two to remain the same.
Accounting for 24 percent of the decrease in expenditure, the proposed budgets for the Huntington Police Department and Fire Department are down by a total of $1.1 million.
In the State of the City address, Wolfe said the $1 user fee increase made it possible to hire six new police officers With the proposed budget, the city will likely have to remove administrative positions in the police and fire department, and replace them with sworn personnel, thus reducing first responders in the field.
The largest cut in revenue sources comes from Business and Occupation tax and federal grants, which are estimated to decrease by $1.9 million and $1.4 million, respectively.
In the State of the City address, Wolfe said the city is trying tactics to collect on delinquent taxes and fees; for instance the city turned over the collection of outstanding Business and Occupation taxes to a private auditing service.
“We are exploring all that is currently available to us,” Wolfe said in the address. “In the budget that is presented, instead of massive layoffs and reductions in services, we are proposing cutbacks in some areas, removal of some positions and furloughs for city employees.”
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The State of Huntington, according to Wolfe
In the State of the City address on Feb. 13, Mayor Kim Wolfe focused on successes, future plans, and the fallout from the economic crisis that affecting the community’s fiscal situation.
Wolfe thanked the city council for the $1 user fee increase, which resulted in the city hiring six police officers, paving $800,000 worth of streets and purchasing Street and Traffic Engineering Division equipment.
The mayor pointed to several city successes; including the creation of a constituent services liaison, which allows the city to be more responsive to residents’ requests or complaints, national attention from “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution”, and the completion of the first phase of the Old Main Corridor with funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Wolfe said the current fiscal year budget was cut by 10 percent from last year’s $44 million to approximately $40 million in reaction to the current national economic crisis and an estimated 10 percent reduction in proposed revenue for this year.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Few Contributed, but at MU and Uk, most gave to Democrats
During the 2008 presidential election, people who identified their employer as Marshall University or the University of Kentucky gave a large majority of donations to Democratic candidates over Republican candidates according to campaign contribution information obtained from Fundrace on huffingtonpost.com.
Approximately 97 percent of donations from MU employees and 78.7 percent of donations from the UK employees went to Democratic candidates.
Ten MU employees donated a total of $4,791 and 75 UK employees donated a total of $52,902 in the 2008 presidential election.
George Davis, Marshall University political science professor, said even though there was too little information to draw any overwhelming conclusion from the donation patterns, it did not surprise him that the university employees were more likely to support Democratic candidates.
“People working in higher education are more likely to be more educated, more affluent and because of that among the most politically involved,” Davis said. “What is surprising is that only 10 employees from Marshall and 75 from Kentucky contributed to candidates.”
President Barrack Obama received the most financial contributions from employees at both universities, with 52 percent of the total from UK and 62 percent of the total from MU.
This is a greater percentage than he received in total. Obama totaled approximately 42 percent, or $659.7 million, of the total $1.54 billion in monetary contributions raised by the top 18 fund raising presidential candidates according to the campaign finance election guide on nytimes.com.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came in second in financial contributions at both universities with 16.6 percent of the total contributions from UK and 21.7 percent at MU.
Sen. John McCain came in a close third in donations from university employees at UK with 15.7 percent of the total donations, but did not received any donations from MU employees.
2008 presidential election financial contributions from Marshall University and University of Kentucky employees by candidate
| Democrats
| Marshall University | University of Kentucky |
|
| Obama | $2,948 | $27,774 |
|
| Clinton | $1,043 | $8,786 |
|
| Edwards | $1,000 | $4,055 |
|
| Kucinich | $0 | $1,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total | $4,491 | $41,615 |
|
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|
|
|
|
| Republicans |
|
|
|
| McCain | $0 | $8,321 |
|
| Paul | $300 | $2,716 |
|
| Guililani | $0 | $250 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total | $300 | $11,287 |
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Tuesday, February 2, 2010
To: Professor Morris
From: Melissa Ison
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Story Outline: Waste and efficiency in local government
Subject: Cabell County/Huntington government are/are not pursuing environmental efficiency
Scope: While covering the President’s Office for the Parthenon, President Kopp released a report showing embarrassing amounts of waste – monetary and energy – within the university. I am curious to see if local government is doing anything similar to what the university is doing to monitor waste and curb costs.
Need: It is important for the tax paying public to know if their governments are seeking to curb costs by becoming more energy and waste efficient.
Methods: I would contact various government departments – mayor’s office, police, fire, etc. – to see if there have been any efforts to become more efficient.
Sources: I would rely on interviews from employees within these offices, rather than department heads to see their take on the efficiency in their departments. I think the interesting people to interview would be the office workers and the maintenance crews. I would also rely on the individual, detailed budget and financial reports from each department to see how money is being spent and if waste is being monitored.
Presentation: This would be a post on my blog, Appalachian Refugee.
Follow-up: This could be a good continuing piece if the government agencies have or have not been pursuing more environmental and monetary efficiency. Further investigations could focus on state government and schools.
From: Melissa Ison
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Story Outline: Waste and efficiency in local government
Subject: Cabell County/Huntington government are/are not pursuing environmental efficiency
Scope: While covering the President’s Office for the Parthenon, President Kopp released a report showing embarrassing amounts of waste – monetary and energy – within the university. I am curious to see if local government is doing anything similar to what the university is doing to monitor waste and curb costs.
Need: It is important for the tax paying public to know if their governments are seeking to curb costs by becoming more energy and waste efficient.
Methods: I would contact various government departments – mayor’s office, police, fire, etc. – to see if there have been any efforts to become more efficient.
Sources: I would rely on interviews from employees within these offices, rather than department heads to see their take on the efficiency in their departments. I think the interesting people to interview would be the office workers and the maintenance crews. I would also rely on the individual, detailed budget and financial reports from each department to see how money is being spent and if waste is being monitored.
Presentation: This would be a post on my blog, Appalachian Refugee.
Follow-up: This could be a good continuing piece if the government agencies have or have not been pursuing more environmental and monetary efficiency. Further investigations could focus on state government and schools.
Investigative journalism is alive and well
The article “Foreign Interpreters Hurt in Battle Find U.S. Insurance Benefits Wanting” by T. Christian Miller investigated the claims of mistreatment from insurance companies of injured interpreters employed to aid troops during the Iraq War.
The propublica.org and the Los Angeles Times co-published article investigated claims that injured interpreters benefits from insurance companies were not meeting what was originally promised. Many of them not qualifying for coverage due to lack of paper work and others being bullied into accepting a settlement much lower than what was promised.
The article is well written, well researched and not overly graphic in nature. Though it is dealing with interpreters who were injured during the war, the journalist does not linger on the injuries inflicted to promote sympathy for them. It focuses only on the evidence derived from interviews, documents and insurance claims.
The evidence Miller found to support the claims came from interviews, corporate documents and data on insurance claims. Miller explained each individual interpreter in different sections, with their account followed by the counter from the accused.
In supporting claims and seeking responses from the parties involved, Miller cited statements from insurers, the Labor Department and internal AIG documents.
The use of graphics in the story aided the readers experience and did not merely repeat the facts of the story. The graphics illustrate where the interpreters are from by state or nation. Though this specific story is specifically about foreign contractors, many of the contractors are also American.
This article is informative for current war contractors, and might spark the interest of human rights activists and individuals serving in the military.
The propublica.org and the Los Angeles Times co-published article investigated claims that injured interpreters benefits from insurance companies were not meeting what was originally promised. Many of them not qualifying for coverage due to lack of paper work and others being bullied into accepting a settlement much lower than what was promised.
The article is well written, well researched and not overly graphic in nature. Though it is dealing with interpreters who were injured during the war, the journalist does not linger on the injuries inflicted to promote sympathy for them. It focuses only on the evidence derived from interviews, documents and insurance claims.
The evidence Miller found to support the claims came from interviews, corporate documents and data on insurance claims. Miller explained each individual interpreter in different sections, with their account followed by the counter from the accused.
In supporting claims and seeking responses from the parties involved, Miller cited statements from insurers, the Labor Department and internal AIG documents.
The use of graphics in the story aided the readers experience and did not merely repeat the facts of the story. The graphics illustrate where the interpreters are from by state or nation. Though this specific story is specifically about foreign contractors, many of the contractors are also American.
This article is informative for current war contractors, and might spark the interest of human rights activists and individuals serving in the military.
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