HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A clearing of Huntington’s Rainy Day Fund to take the city’s projected budget shortfall for the current fiscal year down to $122,000 could get approval from members of Huntington’s City Council as soon as Monday night.
The latest proposed budget revision from Huntington Mayor Steve Williams draws $1.9 million from the Rainy Day Fund and moves funds around within departments to nearly close the gap that, as of earlier this year, was projected to be more than $5 million.
A Rainy Day Fund, in his view, is for unexpected events during a fiscal year.
“I can’t imagine anything that is any more unexpected than to find ourselves with healthcare costs going through the roof, with pensions — an additional nearly $1.5 million of pension costs being added in the middle of a fiscal year, the challenges of the opiate epidemic on the fire department and the police department that had them running through their budget,” Mayor Williams said.
“All of these things created a perfect storm.”
Members of Huntington’s City Council meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
“It scares me to death,” Williams said of the Rainy Day Fund depletion he was expecting Huntington’s Council to approve at that time. “But it scares me even more what the other options were.”
The other options, he said, included possible layoffs of upwards of 40 additional employees on the heels of 24 layoffs in January along with other cost saving steps that reduced the then-projected $4.8 million budget deficit to the current nearly $2.2 million.
Those laid off were ten police department probationary police officers and seven recently hired probationary firefighters. Six civilian employees in the police department lost their jobs along with one temporary officer.
The other steps taken in conjunction with the layoffs included the following:
– All hiring and nonessential spending was frozen until further notice.
– All P-card purchases were required to have prior authorization of the finance director.
– Other cost-saving measures were implemented including: reduction of overtime, elimination of HPD overtime for special events that are not essential to law enforcement mission, training associated with an expense cancelled.
– Capital improvement budget line in Public Works was reduced by $1.4 million. The spring paving program will be eliminated, but funding for pothole patching, sidewalk repairs, snow removal and other services will not be affected. Paving will resume in the fall.
– The city’s health plan will be changed, effective April 1, 2017, to a more cost-effective benefit level that is more typical of private industry employer plans.
– Aggressive collection of delinquent taxes and fees was continued.
No taxes or fees were raised.
Williams talked with MetroNews on Monday shortly after meeting with more than 40 Huntington community leaders at the Marshall University Visual Arts Center to detail the city’s budget situation.
“Instead of pointing a finger,” Williams said of the group, “They roll up their sleeves and say, ‘How we can help identify solutions?'”
Going forward, “We want to be both supportive of police and fire and make them as strong as we possibly can be and we want to have fiscal integrity and fiscal stability within our operations and the 40-plus community leaders affirmed that.”
Amid efforts to close the deficit in the current 2017 Fiscal Year, budget hearings for the 2018 Fiscal Year begin later this week in Huntington.
As part of budget work, Williams said city leaders would have to begin “immediately” rebuilding the Rainy Day Fund. “That’s our work through the end of this fiscal year and the plan we’re putting forward for next fiscal year,” he said.
Mayor Williams is scheduled to give his annual State of the City Address at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Huntington’s City Hall.
“Huntington is safe. Huntington is fiscally sound and just because we’re having difficulty right now doesn’t mean that we postpone our plans for the growth that we’re having in the future,” Mayor Williams said.