May 24, 2012
5PM: Huntington Mayor Proposes City User Fee Increase
UPDATE 2/23/12 @ 5:45 p.m.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The Huntington user fee was the hot topic in council chambers Thursday.
Council held a special meeting to take a poll of the members to see how they felt about Mayor Kim Wolfe's proposal of raising the user fee to $5.
Eight of the present council members voted the fee down. Nate Randolph was the only one who voted for the increase.
Two members were absent from the meeting.
Now, council will look at the budget in a work session and see if they can come up with another solution.
Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.
Could another fee increase be on the horizon for Huntington?
That was the headline out of last night's state of the city address.
Anytime you talk higher taxes and increased fees, feathers get ruffled. However, the mayor says Huntington is in dire straits and the money has to come from somewhere.
“This shouldn't be contentious. I think it's pretty straightforward,” Mayor Kim Wolfe said.
Mayor Wolfe wants to increase the city user fee $2 from the current $3/week to $5/week.
Right now, those who work in Huntington pay $156 per year out of their checks. With the increase, that would go up to $260 for an increase of $104 per year.
“I’m outraged,” Erik Woods, who works in Huntington said.
“The user fee? I don't like it. It's not fair. But it's what we have to work with,” Mayor Wolfe said.
"I don't mind the small fee, but I don't want the 1% tax since I don’t live in Huntington and use the city services that much,” another person who works in the city said.
Several months ago, the controversial proposal on the 1% occupation tax, that was supposed to generate several millions dollars for the city, went to the courts Many citizens are now asking where does that proposal now stand?
“We're at the mercy of the court and what they decide and quite frankly whatever side they come down on, the other side will appeal to the state supreme court,” Wolfe said.
With that revenue builder in legal limbo, the mayor says the city has to find a way to hire more police officers and firefighters, continue street paving, maintain the city's infrastructure and restore raises that city employees haven't seen in years.
“We don't know any other city our size that operates on a smaller budget,” Wolfe said.
But, when WSAZ.com polled city council members this afternoon about whether they'd support a user fee increase-- eight out of eleven we were able to reach all said no.
“We’ve seen so much success with the police department with what we have," said Wolfe. "Do they want to see reductions in police protection? Do they want to see reductions in fire protection? Do they want to reductions in paving? I can answer that for you, no, no, no.”
The mayor had hoped to implement the user fee by April first. Of course, the council sets the budget and they said this budget proposal needs a lot of work.
On the plus side, the city has seen a lot of strides in the last year including a major crime reduction and a million dollars in paving, but how to continue the momentum is up in the air with the two sides at odds.
As expected, Wolfe proposed a $2 weekly increase in the user fee.
He said cities in West Virginia are given more freedom in diversifying taxes and fees; he said Huntington has no other choice.
The mayor happily touted a 20 percent reduction in crime, hundreds of new jobs, the removal of 40 dilapidated homes and nearly $1 million in paving.
|
Popular Searches Powered by Local.com |
