WHEELING - With another fiscal year behind them, Wheeling officials plan to discuss how best to use the city's surplus from the recently concluded budget year.
That discussion is planned for 6 p.m. today, as the finance committee is set to meet prior to City Council's regular 7 p.m. meeting. The committee will meet in City Manager Robert Herron's conference room on the third floor of the City-County Building, 1500 Chapline St., while the council meeting will take place in the second-floor courtroom.
During last month's finance committee meeting, Herron said he expected the city's cash carryover to be "at or slightly ahead of last year," when Wheeling began the budget cycle with a $1.19 million surplus.
Also at that meeting, Herron pointed out several revenue streams that exceeded expectations over the past year, including funding from table gambling and property, hotel/motel and business and occupation taxes.
Collections from parking fines also increased substantially from last year, as Wheeling abandoned traditional hand-written citations in favor of a more automated system, Herron noted.
Also, two traffic rules - both of which council has twice voted to table - are back on the agenda for tonight's council meeting. One would establish a stop sign on Valley View Avenue at its intersection with Biltmore Avenue and Betty Street, creating a four-way stop.
The proposed sign, intended to deter people from speeding, has been the subject of considerable debate among residents of that neighborhood in recent months.
Those living near the intersection in question have come out in favor of the stop sign, but some who live farther away believe it will do little to solve the speeding issue while furthering congestion on the narrow street.
The other traffic ordinance on the agenda would create a no-parking zone on Gaewood Avenue in Elm Grove.
Also up for a vote is an ordinance to place a total of $302,888 in liens against 21 different property owners in an attempt to recoup money spent to demolish dilapidated buildings on those parcels. The list of properties includes several along 12th and 13th streets in East Wheeling, on Warwood Avenue and on Wheeling Island.
Council also will hear first reading of three ordinances in preparation to vote on them at its Aug. 7 meeting, including one authorizing the purchase of liability insurance for the current fiscal year.
The city will remain with its current provider, Berry, Bippus, Chison & Foose of Wheeling, but the yearly premium will increase by about 4.3 percent over last year, to $847,368.
Another measure calls for spending $65,447 with Wells Fargo Insurance Services of Wheeling for workers' compensation insurance, while the third would renew an agreement with the Ohio County Board of Education for the use of facilities at Garden Park in Warwood.
