Crime is declining, revenue is sustainable, and the state of the city is stable, according to Huntington mayor Steve Williams during the State of the City Address February 14.
“We have positioned the city to be fiscally and operationally sound,” the mayor said.
During the address, the mayor described the city as a “city of solutions”, alluding to the idea that the people of Huntington look for “the solutions rather than the excuses”, and praised the resiliency of the citizens of Huntington.
“A city of solutions is defined by the fortitude of the people who comprise the community,” The mayor said. “The corporate governing structure of the city is simply a reflection of its population. Huntington has a highly-chronicled history of resilience.”
The mayor also extolled the improvements that have been made to the city in recent years.
“Jobs and investment are returning,” The mayor said. “Crime is declining. Roads, sidewalks and sewers are all being repaired at levels that were unthinkable in years past… In short, Huntington is engaged in a transformational renaissance.”
The mayor announced several scheduled improvements and projects for the city, including $5 million in storm sewer improvements, $2.4 million in street improvements, and the construction of a Marshall University baseball stadium.
According to the mayor, the police and fire departments have “the largest budgets in the history of each of their respective departments.” The mayor spoke about the various improvements to the police and fire departments in recent years, such as new police cruisers and the complete renovation of the Guyandotte Fire Station. The mayor also proposed further improvements to the police and fire departments: five more police cruisers, another front-line fire apparatus, and 50 more sets of turnout gear for firefighters.
The mayor also provided a proposed budget for the fiscal year 2021 for members of City Council to review, as well as the citizens of Huntington.
Available below is a breakdown of major sources of revenue from Huntington’s 2016 budget. The section labeled “Other Revenue” includes various specific taxes and fees, such as building permit fees and franchise fees – all sources listed in “Other” individually total less than $1 million. The total revenue for 2016 for the City of Huntington was $47,033,160. All final numbers in the following charts are derived from the official budget releases from the City of Huntington.
And here is a breakdown of the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2021. The total revenue proposed for the fiscal year 2021 is $58,315,812 – an increase of almost 24 percent from 2016.
Business and occupation (henceforth B & O) taxes have remained close to the same in the raw amount of revenue that it provides the city, but it has decreased its overall contribution percentage to the budget. The same is true for sales taxes – a marginal increase in actual revenue, but an overall decrease in the percentage of contribution. However, retirees’ medical insurance charges have increased enough to breach the seven-figure margin.
Also, while federal/state grants may appear the same on these charts, it’s important to note that federal grants increased to 1.8 million, whereas state grants decreased to .2 million in the proposed budget for 2021.
Part of the reason that the budget has increased is an increase in sources of revenue – while there were 33 sources of revenue in 2016 that each contributed less than $1 million, there are 37 listed in the proposed 2021 budget. However, four extra sources of revenue don’t account for an increase of over $9 million. The major cause of the increase in miscellaneous revenue is that there are unassigned funds listed in the proposed 2021 budget that total almost $5 million – finances leftover from the 2020 budget. No such lists exist in the 2016 budget.
Now, let’s look at the expenditure summary from 2016. The section labeled “Other Expenditures” contains all expenditures that individually total under $1 million. Again, all final numbers in the following charts are derived from the official budget releases from the City of Huntington. The total expenditures in 2016 equaled the 2016 amended budget of $47,033,160.
And here is a breakdown of the proposed expenditures for the fiscal year 2021. Again, the proposed expenditures equal the proposed revenue total of $58,315,812.
Like the revenue graphs listed earlier, the “Other Expenditures” list has grown significantly since 2016. This is mostly due to many sources having increased expenditures listed in the budget. In the proposed budget for 2021, 16 of the 27 expenditures listed have increased expenditures from the 2020 budget.
The shifting nature of city expenditures explains why “Building Maintenance” has shifted above $1 million, and why “Streets and Highways” has shifted below the same margin.
However, in both 2016 and the proposed budget for 2021, the three largest expenditures by a wide margin are police, fire, and insurance. These three variables represented 73.6 percent of expenditures in 2016, and 67.1 percent of expenditures in the proposed budget for 2021.
While the budgets and expenditures have increased in recent years, the two totals still equalize each other, ensuring that Huntington does not incur an issue with debt.
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