HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Mayor Steve Williams announced what he described as “painful” cuts to the Huntington’s struggling budget Thursday, including the elimination of 24 jobs.
The cuts are expected to total $2.6 million of the city’s projected $4.8 million budget deficit, Williams said.
“This is likely surgery,” Williams said during an appearance Thursday on MetroNews “Talkline.” “We have a serious mass we have to deal with and we’re trying to do as much as we can right now but this is not going to complete the process.”
The two dozen jobs were eliminated immediately. Those include 10 recently hired police department probationary officers and seven recently hired probationary firefighters. Six civilian employees in the police department lost their jobs along with one temporary officer.
Williams called the employee cuts “heart-wrenching.”
“We’ve got 24 employees, 18 of them just recently came on board with us–this is just dealing with families,” he said.
The city’s police and fire chiefs are checking with departments in other cities to see if there are vacancies.
The cuts in the police and fire departments could have been deeper but Williams and department heads decided to eliminate the city’s spring street paving program, a $1.4 million savings.
“It’s more to make sure that we keep as many police officers and firefighters on the job as possible. We can do without a paving program this spring,” Williams said.
There’s also a hiring and nonessential items spending freeze in effect.
Revenue collections haven’t kept up with expenses in Huntington. The city has been hit with costly health insurance and pension obligations taking up half of its annual budget.
Williams said there was no time to wait on finding the additional $2.2 million in spending that needs eliminated.
“These (the cuts announced Thursday) are projected savings and it doesn’t get us out of the woods. We still have a lot of work to do,” he said.
Additional information from the mayor’s office:
Based upon proposals received from department heads, Williams has authorized the following actions:
1.) Dismiss 24 of the city’s 355 employees, effective Thursday, Jan. 26.
a.) 6 civilians in HPD – 3 record clerks, 1 administrative assistant, 1 IT technician, 1 fleet coordinator.
b.) 1 temporary police officer and 10 recently-hired probationary officers in HPD
c.) 7 recently-hired probationary firefighters in HFD.
2.) Reassign 3 civilian positions from the Police Department to another department and/or position.
a.) 2 code enforcement personnel will be reassigned to Public Works and paid from trash/sanitation enterprise fund.
b.) Criminal intelligence analyst position will be eliminated in the Police Department’s budget and the employee in that position will be reassigned to the vacant position of executive director of the Department of Planning and Development (funded by Community Development Block Grant funds).
3.) All hiring and nonessential spending is frozen until further notice.
4.) All P-card purchases must have prior authorization of the finance director.
5.) Implement other cost-saving measures 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.
6.) Reduce the capital improvement budget line in Public Works 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.
7.) 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. The changes have been developed through the city’s Healthcare Task Force and have been discussed with the unions in negotiations. Some of the changes were taken from union proposals, while other changes have been part of the city’s proposals ($400,000 in projected savings this fiscal year).
8.) Continue to be aggressive in collection of delinquent taxes and fees. The city created a multi-departmental team of employees in mid-2014 to focus on delinquent tax and fee collections. Since then, the team has collected $5,224,309 in delinquent taxes and fees, including $1,035,589 this fiscal year.
Fiscal Summary of Plan to Address Budget Deficit
Police officer layoffs: $164,381.93
Police civilian layoffs: $151,466.44
Firefighter layoffs: $134,683.40
Police operational cuts: $294,039.00
Fire operational cuts: $98,413.00
Health care plan changes: $400,000.00
Reduction in Public Works: $1,400,000.00
Total projected savings: $2,642,983.77
Current projected deficit: $2,157,016.23