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WHEELING -- Through the first quarter of the new fiscal year, the city of Wheeling remains on solid financial footing, despite the lack of monthly million-dollar reimbursements the city collected at the same time last year through COVID relief funds.
City Manager Robert Herron recently provided the September financial statement to members of the Finance Committee of Wheeling City Council.
Herron noted that the financial figures through the end of September represented a clear picture of the first quarter of the current fiscal year, which began July 1.
"Our general fund cash balance is $2.5 million, which is very healthy considering the past several years, financially," Herron said.
Budgeted expenditures for the year are right on target, the report indicated, and revenues through September are solid -- despite the fact that they are behind last year's pace by millions.
"It's kind of hard to gauge compared to last year because we had so much in COVID funds," Herron noted. "We had almost $5.1 million worth of COVID funds at the same time last year. If you take that into account, it is down $3.9 million."
Last year from the start of the pandemic in the spring, the city submitted monthly requests for reimbursements to the state of West Virginia through the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act. On average, Wheeling's approved reimbursement amounts ranged between $1 million to $1.3 million on a monthly basis.
The CARES Act relief program ended after the end of the last calendar year.
But since then, the city has been awarded COVID relief funding through the American Rescue Plan. One payment of more than $14 million has already been received by the city through the federal ARP allocation, which comes with a more strict and specific set of guidelines as to how the money can be spent by municipalities. Another $14 million chunk is scheduled to be received by the city next year, but the allocations are not being received in monthly reimbursements as the CARES Act money was last year.
Even outside of the COVID relief money, the city's revenues are healthy, Herron said.
"Overall, our B&O tax revenues are very strong thus far for the first quarter," he said. "The bed tax has bounced back from a COVID-related downturn, and the municipal sales tax is $110,000 more than the same quarter last year.
"So overall, a quarter into the fiscal year we're in pretty solid financial shape."
Members of the Finance Committee of Council approved the September 2021 financial statement and recommended approval of a revision to the current city budget to reflect the recent transfer of funds to the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority for a new entertainment endowment fund. This money is designed to be used to help attract bigger-name performing artists to the area's major venues like WesBanco Arena and the Capitol Theatre.
Herron said money originally carried over from last year's budget had been set aside in a contingency line item. The latest budget revision would transfer those funds out of that line item and into the new entertainment endowment fund, for which Wheeling City Council recently approved $250,000.
Purchase of a new lift for vehicle maintenance for heavy trucks had also been approved by council in April, and that expenditure did not make it into the cash carryover allocation, Herron explained, noting that the new budget revision also accounts for that purchase.
"Everything else is pretty much a cleanup of line items," Herron said of the revisions.