City’s wallet feels the economic crisis

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.”