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PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg City Council will consider a series of mid-fiscal-year budget revisions on Tuesday.
The Finance Committee will review the requests from the administration during a 6:30 p.m. session in the executive conference room on the second floor of the Municipal Building.
If referred by the committee, a resolution authorizing the revisions will be part of the agenda for the regular council meeting at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers.
City Finance Director Eric Jiles said many of the revisions are adjustments to conservative revenue estimates made in light of the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the original projection for business and occupation tax revenue was in excess of $8.3 million, he said. But it was revised downward by more than $1 million last year as city officials waited to see how efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus would impact revenue and what type of reimbursements they would receive from the federal government.
"We're down on B&O," Jiles said. "But based on what we've seen … that initial cut down to $7,025,000 can be raised up a bit and still be comfortable."
The resolution proposes increasing both the B&O and municipal sales tax estimates by $300,000. That would take the 1 percent sales tax number just north of $6 million.
While the distribution of the sales tax may have changed as a result of the pandemic, the total apparently has not.
"What we're seeing is that sales tax is not really affected by this pandemic," Jiles said.
The revision would also add $870,000 to the federal grants line item to reflect the $7,084,567 the city has been reimbursed for COVID-related expenses through the C.A.R.E.S. Act.
Jiles said the governor's office has distributed all of the money allocated for municipalities and other local governments. But the city will continue to apply for reimbursements, at the state's direction, in case additional funds are included in a future stimulus package.
The resolution would allocate $946,876 to the capital reserve fund. Of that, $34,000 is to replace a totaled police cruiser (about $28,000 of which comes from an insurance reimbursement) and $50,000 would go toward an end loader for the Street Cleaning Department.
The rest would go in the unappropriated fund balance, Jiles said.
Other revisions are proposed to reflect actual and anticipated expenses. For example, $81,000 would be added to contractual services in engineering to account for an increased number of emergency demolitions, many due to structures torn down because of fire damage.
"It shores up the amount that we have spent on emergency demos … and then gives about $50,000 for any demos for the rest of the year," Jiles said.
Another $49,000 would be moved to the contractual services line item for the Municipal Building, to cover the costs of fogging for disinfection.
The revenue estimate for the user fee would increase by $200,000 to $1,980,000, for similar reasons to the B&O and sales tax revisions, Jiles said. The additional funds would go toward street improvements.
Other revisions would reduce the revenue in the Parking Fund to reflect declines caused by parking being made free in the downtown area during the pandemic.
Also on the council agenda is the final reading of an ordinance granting a $500 B&O tax exemption to certain businesses for the remainder of the fiscal year.
On first reading are ordinances updating portions of the city's Personnel Policy and Procedure manual to reflect last year's Supreme Court ruling that civil rights protections for employment based on sex include sexual orientation and gender identity, and establishing a Police Department internship program.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.
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Tuesday's Parkersburg City Council meetings
* 6:30 p.m.: Finance Committee, executive conference room, second floor, Municipal Building.
* 7:30 p.m.: City Council, council chambers, second floor, Municipal Building.
Those attending must wear a mask or face covering. Six-foot social-distancing guidelines will be observed.