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City department heads present 2020 budget to common council

The Huntington Common Council reviewed the city’s proposed 2020 budget at its meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10.

The budget can be viewed online at budgetno tices.in.gov. Click on “Huntington” in the “Search by County” drop-down list, then click on “0307 – Huntington Civil City” on the following page. On the page after that, click “View Budget Notice.”

City department heads presented their budgets to council. While many budgets resembled their 2019 counterparts, some featured notable changes.

Adam Cuttriss, interim director of public works and engineering services, reviewed the landfill budget with council, noting its decrease from $724,632 in 2019 to $453,150 in 2020. The drop, he explained, was due to the landfill closure process, which will be completed this year.

The police department’s budget contained new line items for utilities, totaling $14,700. With the department set to move out of the Huntington City Building and into its own building on Cherry Street next year, the creation of those line items was a necessity.

“We had to estimate what utilities might be for six months,” explained Chief Chad Hacker of the total, which he noted was based off of the city building’s utility costs.

The Huntington Municipal Airport’s budget featured an increase of $46,000 in its riverboat loan reimbursement line item, bringing the total to $91,000. Scott Nicola, the facility’s manager, noted that the increase was tied to the airport beginning to repay a $460,000 loan from the city that facilitated the construction of a new fuel farm at the airport. Nicola added that the fuel farm had begun operating earlier that day.

Nicola also reported a $5,000 increase in the airport’s building and structural repair line item, raising its total to $25,000. Nicola cited a need to make repairs to the airport’s main hangar, noting it had leak and insulation issues, as the reason for the increase.

The fire department’s budget contained a $26,395 increase in its medical expenses line item, bringing the total to $30,000. Chief Tony Johnson explained that the added funds would go toward the department’s work performance evaluation program. While the department started the program this year, it had to request an additional appropriation in order to make it happen, said Johnson. By increasing next year’s medical expenses line item, the department will not have to ask for an additional appropriation again, he stated.

The program consists of a medical evaluation and a physical evaluation, explained Johnson. The physical evaluation features an eight-station course that participants are required to complete in a set time. Participants who do not meet that time will later convene with a fitness instructor and work to improve on the stations they struggled at.

“It’s a minimum standard we’re setting for the guys they have to meet to do their job,” said Johnson.

Tim Bischoff, interim city services superintendent, explained that the motor vehicle highway (MVH) budget was now split into two funds – a standard MVH fund and an MVH restricted fund.

“State Board of Accounts … basically is requiring a certain amount of the MVH to go towards these restricted accounts, which are called ‘CRP’ – construction, renovation and preservation,” explained Bischoff. “Standard MVH will go to maintenance.”

The standard MVH fund contains $351,761 while the restricted fund contains $310,866.

The volunteer coordinator position was transferred from the mayor’s budget to the parks department’s budget. It was a move that made sense, said Parks and Recreation Superintendent Steve Yoder, because the majority of the coordinator’s work is for the parks department. The coordinator’s salary is $35,875.

The human resources department presented a budget $5,659 lower than its 2019 counterpart. The biggest cuts, said HR Director Ronda Smelser, were a $2,500 line item for intern pay and a $2,000 line item for furniture and fixtures. Of the first line item, Smelser said the department simply did not use it in 2019; of the second, she said there was not a need for it in 2020.

The street department added line items for street landscaping and gateway signs, totaling $1,500 and $1,000, respectively. The former line item will go toward the cost of soil and seed for tree removals while the latter will go toward maintaining the city’s new gateway signs.

The next step in the budget process is a public hearing at council’s next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 6:45 a.m. First readings of the salary and appropriations ordinances will occur at that time. Second readings will take place at council’s following meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m.

In other council business:
· Mayor Brooks Fetters announced that Smelser was resigning as HR director, with her last day set for Sept. 13. Fetters thanked Smelser for her contributions to the city over the course of her six years of employment.
 

· Council appointed Ben Spurgeon to the open seat on the Huntington Plan Commission. Spurgeon, a member of the Huntington Police Department, replaces Anthony Goodnight, who left the commission upon resigning from his post as director of public works and engineering services.

· A public hearing was set for council’s next meeting on Sept. 24 regarding the voluntary annexation of approximately 130 acres, which will constitute Riverfork Industrial Park West.