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Bluefieldnews.net
City Officials Say Pension Payment Takes Priority
By Art Harvath,
HNN Correspondent
It’s getting down to the nitty-gritty concerning Huntington’s
precarious financial situation. Rumors of whether or not the city can
meet June’s payroll have been circulating for at least a couple of
weeks.
The mid-month’s payroll for June is in question because the city
must meet both the payroll and the pension fund contribution.
Mayor Felinton and Finance Director Bob Wilhelm said that if they had
to chose which to pay first, the pension fund would take priority.
“We already have enough for the pension payment,” said Wilhelm.
“And we have until the end of the week to come up with the payroll.
We’ve faced this situation before and came through it,” he said.
“This time it will be difficult making payroll,” said Felinton,
“but we’ve been in this situation in the past and have always
met the payroll.”
The bi-monthly payroll is $450,000, according to Wilhelm. The city will
be facing the same problem at the end of the month. The city has an agreement
with Fifth Third bank concerning a fund for city Workman’s Compensation.
The city must have $500,000 in the account by June 30th, and to date only
$200,000 has been deposited.
“June is generally a slow month,” said Felinton. “We’ll
do everything we can to meet both payments.”
