Aug. 25, 2006
 
Finance Committee Postpones Recommendations on Possible Police Car, Paving Proposals
 
By Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
 
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- After hearing a report about the budget carryover from the 05-06 fiscal year, the Finance Committee voted on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006, to postpone recommendations on possible expenditures to the so-called Woodlands windfall until it receives additional reports from the Mayor and city department heads.
 
“Without the Woodland money, [last year] the city broke even,” James Insco ascertained based on the financial reports.
 
The finance committee has numerous proposed spending options on its place -- the police cars, street paving, updating the computer system, and incremental increases for fiscal 07-08 by personnel contracts and pension funds encumbrances.
 
Based on the report, Council member Garry Black stated, “I would not personally spend the money at all,” adding that on-going city personnel contracts and pension funds will increase in the 07-08. “I’m reluctant to spend anything.”
 
Finance Committee Chairman Dr. Calvin Kent underscored the importance of further “technological” discussion on the city’s current “proprietary system,” which has been tagged so obsolete that it can not track ongoing payments and events. “We need a system where everybody can talk to everybody else,” Kent said, explaining that a payment on a city account should be immediately reflected in the various departments, so guess work does not become necessary to, for instance, track past due accounts.
 
Mayor David Felinton indicated that the city’s website needs updating so that it can “accept payments 24/7, so people don’t have to come to City Hall unless they want to.”
 
Both Dr. Kent and council member Paul Farrell stressed that their positions in favoring city computer system upgrades leans heavily in Kent’s words on “how much money will this save” or allow us to recapture?
 
Until Scott Caserta brought up the paving and police car purchase review requested at the first council meeting in August, the Finance Committee apparently did not have these items on the agenda. In his words:
 
“During the last council meeting we postponed a couple of items to be reviewed by the finance committee. One of them was Mr. Ritter’s resolution on paving and mine asking for an expenditure to purchase five police cruisers. During council’s discussion it was brought out that we might be able to get more than five through a lease/purchase agreement. I don’t see anything on the agenda as to what we are going to go over or how we are going to discuss that. I’m going to push for at least the five cruisers. I know that Lt. Dial has worked up [a grant] to latch onto two [cruisers], but we need ten cruisers that’s just the bottom line. If we purchase them outright, the actual cost is $28,000 [each] plus change and another $4,000 to equip [each] of them. But, another $225,000-$235,000 just to go ahead a buy these [vehicles] and we won’t have to budget an annual payment over the next three years.
 
“This is a one-time check. We need to spend it wisely. I have a lot of trouble when we put this amount down and make this amount of payments over a couple of years. That’s how you get in trouble with credit cards. I would really like council’s support on providing the cruisers. I thought the ordinances would be brought before the finance committee and we would make some kind of recommendation. I actually expected that they would be on [council’s] agenda for this upcoming week.”
 
(Council member Insco explained that the city clerk likely did not put the two items on Monday’s agenda as they would not be addressed until Aug. 24.)
 
After Finance Chairman Kent agreed that it was proper to discuss the paving and police car ordinances, Caserta continued:
 
“I don’t think the windfall money that we have is actually enough to put a dent in the city’s street problem.” He favored spending some of the remaining money for the website and computer upgrade. “I think the website is going to be extremely advantageous and we will see a lot of benefits from that.”
 
Although the Committee will await a report from Chief Baumgardner, Council member Ferrell stated he would support “authorizing the purchase of five new vehicles” which along with the two obtained through grants would allow a new cruiser for each of the city’s police zones.
 
Ferrell would place “streets at the bottom” of the city’s spending priority list “as expenses will be dramatic.”
 
In other matters, the Finance Committee:
 
- Learned that the city’s liability insurance deductible estimated in the annual budget will pay for the non-insurance portion of the settled sexual harassment suit
 
- That the July flooding ran the cost of leaching at the city landfill to about $25,000 for the one month. The city has only budgeted approximately $110,000 for the full year. “Can’t we pray for a drought?” Kent said.
 
- The city still expects to receive money from a Homeland Security grant, but the amount is unknown
 
- That the paving figure of $22,000 per mile for one inch thick asphalt does not include milling. Normally, a two inch thick surface is paved, so this doubles the cost. No brick repairs are included in the amount.