The upcoming budget for Huntington.

Dave Traube

The upcoming budget for Huntington

The amount of money the city of Huntington has, and where that money will go, was outlined in the latest budget proposal by Mayor Kim Wolfe.

The proposed 2010-2011 budget projects a total of $39,542,739 of income, with the largest sources being the business and occupation tax, municipal service fee, city service fee and property tax.

Wolfe noted that some sources of revenue will be on the rise, such as the property tax and city service fee, and that these are necessary revenues to keep Huntington a solvent, healthy community.

“Although these are challenging economic times, we have an opportunity to reshape how we do business and provide services,” said Wolfe. “It is incumbent upon us and the administrative staff to focus beyond short term results.”

The proposed budget is down from past years. In 2009, the city projected $44,618,876 in expenditures and in 2008 about $41,217,850. The proposed budget’s decrease to about $39,500,00 was due to the fact that only around $40,000,000 was actually collected and spent in each of the last two years.

The proposed budgets for individual departments were released, as well. Almost every city department shows a decrease, totaling over five million dollars, in contrasting the proposed budget with the estimates of the year before. The money the city is on track to spend this year, however, shows that the decrease in the proposed budget is only about $800,000.

Wolfe spoke in last year’s State of the City address about the need for more law enforcement in Huntington. Despite a decrease of $850,000 from last year’s budgeted amount for the department, the difference is only about $150,000 off what the department is slated to spend in the current year.

“In the budget as proposed for the upcoming fiscal year we have included the hiring of four additional officers and three new cruisers,” Wolfe said in 2009. “These officers will provide additional assets to enhance our patrol effectiveness and strengthen our community oriented policing.”

Flash forward a year and the proposed budget cuts could have an impact on Wolfe’s initial plans to strengthen civil service employees.

“Elimination and layoffs of civilian positions within our police and fire departments will cause sworn personnel to be moved to some administrative positions,” Wolfe revealed. “(This) will reduce the first responders’ level of service, (but) working together with council we will meet the challenge this poses to our community.”

Wolfe remarked in his address that all the budget decreases make practical sense for the city and cautioned public patience with ironing out the details of the budget.

“There are so many significant accomplishments that we have made together this last year,” Wolfe said. “Turning back and returning to the status quo is not an option.”

Mayor Kim Wolfe's State of the City

Dave Traube

Wolfe’s State of the City Story

For a city that has been named among the unhealthiest and most depressed in the nation, its mayor sure seems to be an optimist.

Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe gave his second State of the City speech earlier this month and, in a positively-themed presentation, updated the public on how the city of Huntington should progress in the upcoming year.

The first point Wolfe discussed was fiscal responsibility. This was an update of the city’s finances and review of the partnerships with local employers that were formed in Wolf’s first year as mayor. He also underscored the city’s commitment to employees despite an impending budget cut.

Obviously, it was important that Wolfe focused on the successes that he and his administration experienced in the first year in public office, even including the way the city responded to being labeled as a very unhealthy city late in 2009.

“We viewed this as an opportunity to showcase our community and the resilience of our people,” Wolfe said. “As a result of the show (Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution), Huntington has a kitchen that provides free cooking classes to our residents.”

An open and capable city government was another topic the mayor spoke about at length. Wolfe said he plans to invest time and resources into programs that would help the employees meet the needs of the citizens of Huntington.

“Training our employees has often gone neglected in times of economic hardship,” Wolfe said. “We believe that investing in our people is critical.”

In his 2009 address, Wolfe promoted the open houses he had been conducting in neighborhoods around town. The mayor said he believed they would serve a good purpose by allowing him to interact with the people of the city.

He did not mention the open houses this year, but instead said that he was responding to the needs of the citizens by creating a Citizen Support Center on the city’s Web site that would allow visitors to get answers to important questions about the city.

“From an administrative perspective, it (the new Web site feature) creates the opportunity for our office to have greater accountability when responding to needs.”

Budget concerns were highlighted by proposed spending cuts that tough economic times bring to the city, but Wolfe also explained that projects were still being paid off in an efficient manner and various sources of income continued to be pursued.

“We released the names of millions of dollars worth of delinquent municipal service and refuse fee accounts,” Wolfe said. “Such action has resulted in swift payment or new payment on these aged accounts.”

Wolfe finished his State of the City speech with a call for unity on the part of citizens and action on the part of city officials, all in hopes of forming a successful and healthy community.

“We will transmit this city, not only not less but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Will Senator Byrd run for re-election?

Dave Traube

2/23/10

Project # 5

Sen. Robert C. Byrd has represented West Virginia in the United States Senate since 1959 but, with the 2012 Senate race looming, questions are emerging about his political future; will the nation’s longest serving senator run for re-election in 2012?

Byrd, who has been in poor health for a number of years, has raised few dollars for a 2012 campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission’s Web site. As of the end of 2009 Byrd has only $5,591 in net receipts, which include donations to his re-election, against a debt of $7,396.

With the election for his seat still two years away, this may not seem like a large concern for Byrd, but compare it to fellow West Virginia Sen. John Rockefeller’s total, and the $5,600 account balance becomes more interesting. Not facing re-election until 2014, Rockefeller has totaled $210,416 in receipts and does not have any debt.

The lack of funding is but one sign that Byrd may have decided not to run. Health issues have also plagued the senator for some time, including several public appearances in a wheelchair. When he came to Huntington last year to dedicate the new health center named after his late wife, Erma, he had trouble standing, and spent over a month in the hospital this past summer, as well.

Representatives for Byrd are neither confirming nor denying any speculation. Multiple calls to his offices were forwarded elsewhere and no comment was made on questions about the level of Byrd’s fund raising activity. Also, an e-mail to Keith Larkin of Byrd’s media relations department was not immediately returned and, indeed, an acknowledgement from that department did not promise a swift response.

The people who are talking about Byrd’s future admit they don’t really know.

“(Byrd’s future/fund raising) is something you would have to ask someone close to him at this point in things,” said Derek Scarbrough, an employee at the West Virginia State Democratic headquarters. “2012 isn’t really on the radar for us. Everyone here is focused on 2010.”

Some observers, like George Davis, a political science professor at Marshall University, think that while Byrd may step down and not seek re-election, he has the funds needed to run already, they are just not currently designated as campaign money. There is also some thought that current West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin could step in and take Byrd’s seat in 2012.

“My hunch is that he won’t (run for re-election),” Davis said. “He is beginning to, or already has recognized the shape he is in (physically). He got a lot of signals from the Senate when the Democrats took over, and I think the writing is on the wall for him to step down. My hunch is that he will step down and Manchin will run for his seat.”

Byrd has remained active in his senatorial duties, releasing 10 press releases in the month of February according to his Web site, mostly about improving and properly equipping the state’s fire departments.

Despite the lack of funding and recent health problems, if the 92-year-old senator’s past words are any indication of his intentions for 2012 – he’ll be running. When Byrd stepped down as chairman of the Appropriations Committee in 2009, he defended his age, saying he would maintain his Senate seat, “until this old body drops.”

In a 2009 speech Byrd said, “It has been a wonderful 50 years in this great forum of constitutional liberty and I look forward to the next 50!”

While this may not be a statement of fact, it can perhaps be taken as a statement of sincerity.

Investigative Story Proposal

My proposal is to investigate the bill before the legislature to allow the State Highway Authority to instigate tolls around the state on roads besides the turnpike. The question is, can the Authority be trusted with more revenue when there have been issues with how they have handled money in the past? They have spent money on big projects like Tamarack, for example, that will never recoup the construction costs. They caused a firestorm of controversy a few years ago by trying to raise tolls with very little public notice. The turnpike generates millions of dollars in tolls collected each year, yet unresolved maintenance issues on the road ultimately did lead to higher tolls. Can the Authority be trusted to handle additional revenues any better than they have in the past? What are the hidden costs of creating more toll roads across the state of West Virginia?

The holes in San Diego's healthcare

For my Reporting Public Affairs class I found an example of an investigative story that was published recently and analyzed it. The story I found is called, "San Diego's Safety Net: Riddled With Gaps," and is from voiceofsandiego.org. (http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/voice_special_reports/county/article_c44708aa-0ea2-11df-8179-001cc4c002e0.html)

The story focused on one women's struggle with the healthcare system in San Diego and how that led to her becoming blind. The report used her story as a starting place to dive into all the problems that exist in healthcare in California.

Members of the San Diego County Supervisors office were given opportunities to respond and charts were used to help the story establish credibility as well as county supervisors. The Rose Institute analysis of the California Department of Social Services data provided the information for the charts.

I think that this story would be most read by people who rely on the healthcare system to survive. This story exposes loopholes and exceptions in the system that cause many people to suffer. In fact it seems to have started as just a project idea that expanded into a more critical look at healthcare.