Wheeling Officials Planning Ahead for 2025-26 Fiscal Year Budget

|Photo by Eric Ayres| Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron addresses members of Wheeling City Council during the first regularly scheduled council meeting of 2025 this week.
WHEELING – The new calendar year has just gotten underway, but officials in the city of Wheeling are already planning ahead for work sessions to hammer out the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
The city operates on a fiscal year that begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 the following year. The current General Fund budget for the city of Wheeling tops $38.5 million.
This week, Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron distributed a 2025-26 budget schedule to members of city council for their review and for planning purposes.
“We do maintain a budget schedule for the general fund on an annual basis, and budget season begins in January and runs through February and March,” Herron said.
Work on the upcoming budget began this week with distribution of budget forms to city department heads. Each city department and employee group within the city will submit proposed budgets for the next fiscal year to the city manager’s office by Feb. 5.
The groups will then meet with the city manager during budget sessions slated to take place Feb. 5 through Feb. 14.
“There are five key dates on the schedule that specifically pertain to city council action,” Herron said. One is Feb. 28, when – as stated in the city charter – the city manager will submit a balanced budget of the General Fund and Coal Severance to city council.”
Budget work sessions are scheduled to take place at 4:45 p.m. on March 4 and at 5 p.m. on March 11. Those dates and times are subject to change depending on the schedule and the availability of city council members, Herron noted.
“In order to comply with West Virginia state code that requires that we approve a budget to be submitted to the state auditor for consideration and approval by the end of March, the budget is scheduled for city council consideration and adoption at the March 18 meeting,” Herron said. “After the state auditor approves the budget submitted by council, it comes back, and then on April 15 – at that meeting – there will be a laying of the levy rate, which is included in the budget but does require a separate action.”
Between June 16 and June 27, there will be year-end departmental reviews and proposed budget adjustments prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year. Follow-up employee group meetings will also take place with the city manager’s office.
After the 2025-26 fiscal year begins on July 1, the Finance Committee of Council is expected to meet on July 15 to discuss unencumbered carryover appropriations from the end of the current fiscal year. This date is tentative and contingent upon timing of the year-end closing for fiscal year 2024-25.
The city manager added that budget work sessions are subject to change based on availability of council members. The final work session schedule will be made public in advance of each meeting.