Huntington City Council approved a budget of $40.2 million, which is a raise of Mayor Kim Wolfe’s proposed budget of $39.5 million and a decrease in last year’s $44.6 million. The new budget shows reductions in 10 city departments such as fire, police and engineering.

At the meeting on March 21, City Council adopted a new budget for the fiscal year. They voted to cut the proposed budget by almost $900,000. The cut would lead to layoffs of at least 10 different city departments. Mayor Wolfe says keeping all city departments happy is difficult.

“You can’t keep everyone happy,” Wolfe said. “I try to make the best decisions that will benefit the city of Huntington.” “I want to leave Huntington a better place than what I found it when my term is through.”

The reduction affects 10 divisions and the personnel budget by large amounts. Some of the reductions include $26,573 for legal, $2,500 for City Council, $32,971 in building maintenance, $102,345 from the floodwall, $198,871 from police, $120,000 from fire and $165,000 from personnel. Some of the cuts from the fire and police department include overtime and new equipment. City Council has budgeted for $150,000 in Business and Occupation Tax increases on revenue and a decrease of $25,000 to the Huntington-Cabell-Wayne Animal Shelter. The city’s contributions would go from $100,000 to $75,000.

Huntington’s two biggest departments concerning expenses are fire and police. While there have been many cuts to different departments, fire and police make up almost half of the proposed budget. The total is more than $21 million. Wolfe said the safety of Huntington is the key to helping it grow.

“What we want to do is see Huntington grow,” Wolfe said. “If you don’t have a safe environment the city can’t flourish,” Wolfe also said, “Safety should always be the number one goal in order to improve Huntington.”

In previous meetings, Wolfe and council members discussed the proposed budget which had declining revenues due to the recession. This made the mayor propose furloughs for all city employees and layoffs to eight civilian employees in the police and fire departments in his first proposed budget. After discussion, council members have instead restored funding to prevent furloughs and layoffs in the police and fire departments. However, there are still 20-day furloughs, but they are only for public works and administrative employees. Council member Frances Jackson says furloughs are not always the best option.

“When you put people on furloughs you have less city services whether its fire or police or city workers,” Jackson said. “I don’t think furloughs are done efficiently and we don’t need our fire and police departments on them.” Jackson also said, “Furloughs mean there are less people serving our city.”

Along with the many departments taking a hit is the Huntington-Cabell-Wayne Animal Shelter. The approved budget is a $25,000 cut in the city’s $100,000 contribution to the animal shelter. The decrease will prevent the shelter from having a full-time and part-time dog warden position.

FY 2011 Budget Table

Division	Proposed Budget	Reduction Amount	Adopted Budget
Legal	$363,530	$26,573	$329,703
City Council	$94,210	$2,500	$91,710
Building Maintenance	$296,236	$32,971	$262,135
Engineering	$363,530	$35,987	$874,574
Finance	$908,732	$27,918	$858,078
Purchasing	$106,600	$100	$102,843
Floodwall	$648,677	$102,235	$534,187
Police	$10,741,819	$198,871	$11,069,488
Fire	$10,121,153	$120,000	$10,429,956
Personal	$1,194,534	$165,000	$9,266

Sources: City of Huntington Annual Budget Estimate, Levy Estimate