Huntington's budget is the same old story

Proposed Huntington city budget shows little to no change for upcoming fiscal year


The economic struggles of the country have their affect on many cities around the country, and as Mayor Kim Wolfe explained in his address of the proposed budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Huntington is no different.

Even with the small steps to economic recovery that can be seen around the nation, small cities such as Huntington are still feeling the recession effects. “The budget being presented has cuts in a number of different areas,” Wolfe said. “Most significant are cuts in personnel, within finance, Mayor’s Office, Public Works, civilian staff at the Police Department and keeping the current vacancies unfilled at the Fire Department for a second year in a row.”

This year’s proposed budget shows little to no change from last year’s budget, or even the year before that. The expenditures budget for the city in 2009 was $41.7 million, it dropped to $38.9 million in 2010, and the proposed budget for the upcoming year is $39.8 million. With numbers that large, and the changes being so small, the percent of change is relatively insignificant.

The two largest expenditures of the city over the past three years have been the Police and Fire Departments. Those departments have accounted for over 50% of the cities spending over the past three years and those numbers are set to continue. The problem is that the numbers have remained flat over the past three years, which has not allowed for improvements, and according to City Council representative Sandra Clements, has reduced the overall effectiveness of the departments.

“When you lay people off it reduces the efficiency of the department,” Clements said. “We have to learn to live within our budget and work with what we have.”

Although the proposed layoffs and cuts will be minimal, they will still leave holes within the city departments. An increase in city revenue would be the only way to save those jobs, but as of right now there is only a slight increase from the previous year. With the B&O tax and Municipal Service Fees bringing in most of the money for the city (Table 1), it will be up to the city leadership to come up with creative methods to increase the amount of money coming in for city use.

“This year’s financial picture without additional revenue sources is just as difficult, if not more so,” Wolfe said. “The proposed 2011-12 budget does not see any significant increases in revenue.” If the city is going to prosper and allow city employees to keep their jobs, there is going to have to be significant increases in revenue in the upcoming years.

Mayor Wolfe, the ball is in your court.

To: Burnis Morris

From: Troy Hemingway

Re: Cabell County Public Library/Library Board Investigative Story
Date: March 30, 2011


Subject: Growth of Technology (Internet and e-books) and how it has impacted the library

Scope: The growth of technology and emergence of the information age has affected the entire world. Libraries have had to evolve with the technology and I will investigate different programs and shifts the library has introduced to better serve the public.

Need: Libraries have long been a big part of the community. People use the library for many different functions so it is important that the public knows what is now being offered beyond just books.

Methods: The method of this story will be investigative with an anecdotal lead. I want the story to investigate how changes have affected the library, but also tell a story of what is now being offered and how people can use the resource.
Sources: The sources of this story will be interviews. I plan to interview at least one member of the board, the director of the library and some library employees. I want a broad scope of input.
Presentation: This story will be hard news, but with an anecdotal lead. It is very newsworthy for people to know the current state of the library. A misconception is that the library only offers books and computers, but that is not the case. I will also include charts to show funding and growth of certain aspects of the library.

Follow-up: This story definitely has the potential to have follow-up stories. As the library grows and evolves, it will allow for more and more stories. The library is too important to become insignificant. People need to learn about the great resources that are available.

Huntington City Council Meeting Highlights - March 27, 2011

I was able to attend the city council meeting last night and it was a very exciting meeting. The first detail that caught my eye is that Mayor Kim Wolfe was not in attendance. This was the first meeting I have ever been to when the Mayor was not there. Also, there were two gentlemen in the audience who were very passionate about their feelings and made sure they let the city council know about it. One of them had to be told that his time had expired mulitple times and went on rants about religion and even evolution.

The second man asked where the Mayor was, and was not given an answer. He made it known that the Mayor has missed about 3-4 meetings already this year. His problem was that he was not given the date and time of a sanitary board meeting that he demanded to be in attendance for. Councilman Mark Bates apologized for his mistake and told the gentleman he will be informed of the next meeting's time.

The council then voted as ususal on multiple ordinances and the terms of two people within city departments. The meeting was very unusual and I was happy to have been in attendance.

Huntington City Council Meeting - March 27, 2011

I will be attending the Huntington City Council meeting tonight to finish up my required three meetings to attend for the semester. I was unaware that the meeting was even happening so I was very happy to find out because I needed this last event to attend. I am anticipating the meeting being very similar to previous meetings I have attended. I expect votes on ordinances and terms of employees, but nothing too groundbreaking to occur. I also expect there to be some discussion on the final version of the proposed budget.

Nonprofit Story Proposal

To: Burnis Morris


From: Troy Hemingway

Re: Story Outline for Nonprofit piece

Date: March 18, 2011



Subject: Affects of Economy on Huntington City Mission



Scope: The downward shift of the economy has affected many around the country. The Huntington City Mission is no different, and I will research what programs and plans have changed due to a decrease in available funds.



Need: Nonprofit organizations are big parts of the local community. People deserve to know what is going on at these organizations and what the donations are being used for. It is also important to get exposure for the organizations and their programs.



Methods: The method of this story will stem from mostly interviews and research. I will research the internet, mainly the organizations website and also Guidestar to look at the 990 of the organization.



Sources: The sources of this story will be from interviews of employees at the organization. I will speak with the director, general employees and also volunteers. The organization’s website and other sites talking about programs and plans of the organization will also be used.



Presentation: The presentation of the story will be hard news. I will be reporting on the status of the organization and how the economy has affected its ability to continue its programs. The story will not have any charts or graphs, but I plan to include photos of the building and maybe of the employees.



Follow-up: This story definitely has the potential to have follow-up stories. The organization will continue its operations throughout the year, and any programs that are worthy of news coverage could be written about. Also, any changes to donations or programs that have been stable throughout the years would be worthy of stories as well.

Faculty Senate Meeting Highlights

The second meeting I attended this semester was the faculty senate meeting on March 17th. The meeting was pretty surprising, with not much being accomplished besides arguing over semantics. The politics of the meeting were professional, with motions and seconds to pass different suggestions, but the overall decisions that were made and arguments over those decisions seemed juvenile.

The main decsions that were made were regarding wording in faculty documentation describing tenure and promotions. Although those are very important factors to working members of the University, there could have been some items that were more important that could have been addressed. The semantics of a couple of sections regarding those topics took a complete 30-45 minutes to discuss.

Faculty Senate Meeting - March 17, 2011

I will be attending the faculty senate meeting today at 4 p.m. at the student center on campus. I am going to fulfill part two of my requirement of attending three government meetings throughout the semester. I have never been to a Marshall faculty senate meeting before and am interested in what the proceedings will be. I assume that various topics regarding school policy and future plans will be discussed. I will blog later to report on what the proceedings were and some changes that are going to come about. It should be interesting to see how the faculty senate differs from other meetings such as city council.