CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The City of Charleston is proposing a $99.8 million budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year that begins in four months.
Charleston City Manager Jonathan Storage laid out the budget during the city council’s finance committee before the full city council Monday evening that he made sure to highlight does not include position cuts, reduce city services and not create any new taxes and fees.
He told the finance committee that the proposed budget is not extravagant but gets the job done.
“No positions are proposed to be eliminated this year. As the administration has done in the past two budgets, $3 million is proposed for street paving in addition to using money that the city received as part of the settling of the paving anti-trust cases,” Storage said.
Storage said the city would not be able to afford any street and road pavings should House Bill 2256, a bill to repeal city user fees across the state, pass in the state legislature this session. He said the budget proposal would change if the bill passed as the city would have a $7 million hole.
“Should the cities authority to charge the user fee be repealed by the legislature, 100% of all funds used currently to pave our streets and road would disappear, causing the city to reduce paving projects and cut department budgets to even afford to save roads,” Storage said.
20% of the police department’s budget would be cut.”
As it currently stands, the city is planning to purchase critical machinery and equipment for the police department and other first responders. Storage said the budget includes purchases of 17 police vehicles, police radio equipment, new body cameras, three fire department passenger vehicles, one fore department rescue truck, 10 heart monitors and 10 training monitors, one mechanical chest compression device for the fire department, and various traffic signal equipment.
Storage said a lot of critical services are not being reduced, even with a pinch to the budget by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“No reductions are proposed in funding our police and fire departments, no changes to active employee healthcare premiums, deductable or max out of pocket thresholds. No changes to the city’s contribution levels for employee HSA accounts under PEIA,” he said.
Revenues have been improving since revenue estimates in the fall, the city manager said.
He projected $42.5 million in B7O revenue next fiscal year which is 10.12% above revised estimates. 40% above revised estimates is $75,000 of revenue for oil and gas severance taxes.
There is a projected 50% increase in hotel occupancy taxes to $2.25 million in revenue in the budget. That figure represents 75% of pre-pandemic levels. The city also expects $2.5 million from ambulance fees.
Storage said while the city has not had to cut one position, the city looks to add two key roles including city planner to help with the ongoing and expanded work of Charleston land Reuse Agency. There are also plans to add a Peer Support position which will be grant-funded.