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Parkersburg City Council hears last budget presentation

By Tyler Bennett 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg City Council heard the last of the city's budget presentations for the 2021-2022 fiscal year on Wednesday evening.

Presented by Finance Director Eric Jiles, council had the opportunity to go over the remaining budget proposals with plans to consider amendments and/or adopt the completed budget during tonight's final budget meeting at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Building.

The budget for civil service will see a decrease of $400, going with a flat rate of $23,000, due to a decrease in cost for the material.

There is only one change in the mayor's budget, a $10,000 increase for the department head salary. The council budget saw decreases due to a reduction of travel expenses and insurance allocation to the council as well as a reduction in office supplies ($800) for a total reduction of $8,138 in the total budget.

The finance department showed a total increase of $6,459, but there was a $29,872 reduction in licenses and subscriptions, $20,000 reduction in IT supplies, along with an increase of $28,000 in the contractual services IT to accommodate third-party network consulting, said Jiles.

The city clerk budget will have a decrease of $3,690, for the decrease of travel, as well as a decrease in the anticipated amount of correctional service relating to ordinance updates.

The parking fund will have decreases in parking revenues of $95,000 per year. Jiles said it is significant and the unknown impact the pandemic will still have on downtown Parkersburg.

"So in order to go ahead and anticipate what could be considered a worst-case scenario as far as the permanent fund goes the decrease in revenue of $95,000 is meant to accommodate that," Jiles said.

The expenditures for the parking fund have been decreased by $44,276 to help offset the decrease in revenue. It includes a significant amount of maintenance to parking lots, sealing, and replacement of parking meter equipment.

In the city attorney's budget contractual services category, an increase of $7,600 will be used for legal fees or legal defense costs for any situation in which the city's insurance provider does not pay for legal expenses. Jiles said that with certain litigation underway, this budget has been increased to accommodate that.

The development department's contractual services decreased to $27,500. The reason for the decrease is the 10-year master plan that had been budgeted for in previous years and that is now complete, Jiles said.

The capital reserve ($11,500) will receive an increase in funds, however the stabilization fund ($200,000), demolition fund ($50,000) and debt service fund ($1,411) all had decreases compared to FY20.

The police department's telephone communications expense will increase by $8,907 for cellular service in police cruisers and a dramatic increase of $84,386 in auto insurance liability.

In the fire department's budget, there is a $4,000 increase in repair maintenance for buildings as well as a $4,004 increase for equipment, a $5,000 increase in contractual services to cover some pumping ladder testing expenses and a $21,000 increase in departmental supplies.

Fire Chief Jason Matthews said it will cover portable radios for fire trucks and fire stations as the current radios are nearing the end of their lifespan.

Not in the budget for the FY21 and a talking point of the past two meetings this week, Mayor Tom Joyce addressed the lack of funding to replace fire station 3, after the city built new facilities on the sites of stations 2 and 4 in the last three years. Joyce said there are different ways to pay for a new fire station, and plans will be discussed potentially in the future

"I just wanted to set the record straight that the absence of funding for replacement of the third fire station was not an opposition, so much as I think there are better ways to pay for it than the way we've done the last two," Joyce said. "Quite frankly there's a high possibility that the city is going to get an allocation appropriation from the federal government that will make this and a lot of other infrastructure things a reality in relatively short order."

Towards the end of the meeting, a motion to delay council's decision on the budget from tonight to next Monday to give more time to assimilate the information failed on a 4-3 vote.

Contact Tyler Bennett at tbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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