Mayor Williams delivers Huntington City Budget message

The Huntington Mayor submitted his proposed budget for the fiscal year to the City of Huntington City Council Friday.

Steve Williams praised the city for all they have been able to accomplish in the first year of his office and went on to talk about what he hopes to accomplish in the next year.

The mayor began by talking about the fiscal condition of the city.

“The fiscal condition and state of our city is sound and certainly the strongest it has been in several years,” he said. “However, due to the neglect and timidity of many who sat in these seats before us, we are left with the task of addressing issues that have been ignored for too long.”

The Mayor said he believes the city is improving and has fostered a culture of expectation and achievement.

Some major improvements to the city was the big center of the budget message. The city has recently received permission for the demolition of Northcott Court. The public housing on Hal Greer Boulevard was recently rezoned to commercial, settings the statge for major improvement to the area. 

The Huntington Housing Authority is currently seeking a private developer to redevelop the property. Residents in the area are looking forward to a grocery store. The mayor said he is hoping for a Trader Joe’s to be placed at the location. Residents have been relocated throughout the city. The city is looking to build two new 40-unit senior housing complexes and an addition 50 single-family and duplex housing units in the Fairfield neighborhood of Huntington, to make up for the loss of public housing.

Williams pointed out in 2014 the city focused on establishing a new culture, a new manner of doing business. However, he believes in 2014, the city must continue on the same path.

“In 2014, we must utilize our newly-minted system to address familiar problems that are corrosive to our community psyche,” he said.

The mayor also had exciting news for the city workers as well. The mayor recommending a 3 percent across-the-board pay raise for all bargaining until employees and administrative personnel. These employees have not seen a pay raise for over 15 years. The mayor said the pay raise will not pertain to his pay, nor the city council members’, and it will only be granted to persons who have been employed for a year.

Another item on the mayor’s agenda was taking care of different divisions of service and regulatory responsibility for any water issues within the city.

"We will place under one administrative authority all city offices that have anything to do with water quality, regulation or service. The Sanitary Board, the Stormwater Division and Floodwall Division all are responsible for how we manage water that is disposed of, collected or contained in the city.”

Mayor Williams said he believes this will help the issues of more than one office having the same jurisdiction and will help doubling up when a water issue takes place.
 
David Bell, at large council member for the city, said the mayor could have gone on longer than his forty-minute speech.
 
“He could have gone on forever,” he said. “there was just so much to say.

Bell also talked about where he believes the city is compared to fiscal years of the past.

“When you lose 40% of your tax base it’s hard.” He said. “We were going down, but now I think he has brought us up.”

Mayor Williams finished his speech by talking about the budget limitations.

“We have constructed a budget within the limits of our revenues,” he said. “We will continue to strive for excellence in all that we do. It is necessary for us to determine how we intend to address our longterm capital needs.”