Wheeling Looking To Reduce Overtime, Other Costs To Keep Budget in Line
Eric Ayres Trending
Wheeling officials are looking to clamp down on overtime and curb other costs as the city continues to operate slightly ahead of budget halfway through the current fiscal year.
During this month's meeting of the Finance Committee of Wheeling City Council, final figures were reviewed for the finances through the end of December, which represents the mid-year report for the fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.
"We continue to run a little bit ahead, particularly on the expenditure side," Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said, noting that the city's spending is at 53% of the budget halfway through the fiscal year. "Some of that is due to some capital purchases that the city has undertaken, but some of it also is cost associated with personnel, which we're looking at, particularly in the vehicle maintenance department as well as police and fire, and sanitation."
Herron noted last month that vacant positions within the city were being filled, which is a positive step forward. He indicated that situations in which the city has to pay overtime to employees often stem from workers doing their own job while also covering positions that need to be filled.
"Eighty percent of our expenditures are personnel-related, so there's not a whole lot of control there, but there are certain things that we can do to make sure that we hit the budget numbers at the end of the year," Herron said, noting that cutting down on overtime expenses is one of them.
Herron said that some other expenses for the city recently have increased, including landfill tipping fees.
"I don't believe that there was a measurable increase at the landfill -- it just may be volume in picking up. We're going to take a look at that and determine what's going on there," he said.
While expenditures are ahead of the budget, revenues are also slightly ahead for the city, as well. Overall, the city's finances remain strong halfway through the current fiscal year, the city manager noted.
"The revenue side is right where we thought it would be, it's just that we really have to pay attention to what's going on from an expenditure perspective," Herron said.