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Huntington hits fiscal wall

The City of Huntington is confronting a financial crisis.  It’s not the first time the River City has struggled to keep its head above water as costs increase faster than revenue collections.

Mayor Steve Williams has been huddling with city officials for days to try to figure out a course. “We’ve got some serious issues,” Williams told me on Talkline Tuesday.  “I’m trying my best to avoid layoffs so that we don’t have a disruption or a reduction of safety.”

That’s going to be tough since the projected budget deficit for this fiscal year is $4.8 million.

The city’s biggest expense is personnel, and a reduction in the number of policemen and firemen would save money.  The two departments are already significantly over budget, despite the fact that Williams ordered a five percent spending cut at the start of the fiscal year.

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams

Naturally, this makes folks nervous. Huntington is already battling a debilitating opioid epidemic and fewer police officers could exacerbate the problem. Reducing fire stations or manpower could put people and property at greater risk.

But the city’s budget of nearly $50 million is being eaten up by insurance and pension expenses.  The city will pay nearly $12 million for health insurance for city workers this year, while contributions to the pension plans for the city’s firemen and policemen will total nearly $11 million.

So the City of Huntington is basically an insurance and retirement company that meets payroll and this fiscal year has less than $5 million left over for street paving and capital improvement projects.

Meanwhile, Mayor Williams took some heat because last month city council voted 6-4 to raise his salary by $10,000, to $85,000, but the mayor this week declined the raise in a show of fiscal responsibility as he tries to bring the finances back under control.

Williams says he’s committed to doing what it takes to not only fix the budget for this year, but make structural changes to avoid an annual financial crunch. “Nobody needs to look anywhere other than directly at me to make sure that, not only we fix it, but we make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

That’s a tall order given the fixed costs of the generous police and fire pension plans and ever-rising health care costs. The city has already imposed a weekly $5 fee for individuals who work within the city limits, so tacking on another fee would be unpopular.

In short, the city has no good options, only tough to decisions to make.

 





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