WHEELING CITY MANAGER ROBERT HERRON

WHEELING — Officials in Wheeling are working to hammer out the 2025-26 fiscal year budget this month with a general fund to operate the city expected to grow to more than $39.7 million — but is also expected to present a very rigid balance between revenues and expenditures.

Members of Wheeling City Council are scheduled to adopt the next fiscal year’s budget during their second regular council meeting of the month, which is being moved to Thursday, March 20, because of a conflict with the annual West Virginia Municipal League Conference later this month.

The budget will then be forwarded to the state auditor’s office for review and approval. The next fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30, 2026.

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron submitted the proposed general fund and coal severance budget to Mayor Denny Magruder and members of city council late last week for their review prior to scheduled budget work sessions this month.

The first of those work sessions is slated to take place tonight prior to the regular city council meeting.

“The city of Wheeling, from a budget standpoint, finds itself in the similar situation to many cities throughout the country in that we’ve been able to keep our nose above water financially,” Herron noted. “Some cities unfortunately can’t make that same claim. We will always closely monitor expenditures to ensure that, although budgeted, each expenditure is necessary and is in the best interest of delivering municipal services to our community.”

Revenues and expenditures must match in a balanced budget. For fiscal year 2025-26, the city’s general fund expenditures and revenues are projected to be $39,770,662 compared to the current fiscal year budget of $38,856,345. This budgetary increase reflects a projected increase in revenue for the next fiscal year. However, expenses are also projected to increase, resulting in what promises to be a fairly tight fiscal situation next year.

“The increase in revenue can be attributed to an interest transfer from the Budget Stabilization Fund, a proposed adjustment to the sales tax allocation, West Virginia First Foundation CRU (Crisis Response Unit) Grant and property taxes,” Herron said, explaining that the proposed budget represents the operating budget for the city and does not include capital projects and purchases. “However, an estimated $1.8 million is available for capital improvements through the city’s Restricted Capital Improvement Project (RCIP) Fund and via one half of the city’s Service Fee.”

Wheeling’s City Service Fee — also known as the “user fee” — is a $2 per week charge on people who work in the city, with $1 of that money dedicated toward public safety and the other $1 eyed for prioritized public infrastructure projects. About $950,000 per year is available for these infrastructure projects through this fund.

Outside the general fund budget, about $850,000 per year is generated in the city’s regular RCIP account almost entirely by oil and gas royalties, the city manager noted. About $896,000 in city sales tax revenue is used for debt service on the new Market Street parking garage per year.

Herron noted that the figures in the proposed budget do not include any proposed increase in fees or taxes. In terms of infrastructure improvement projects planned for the water and sewer departments, however, possible rate adjustments will likely be up for discussion this year.

Adjustments may also be needed for the operating budget as well, Herron indicated.

“Please note that there are no proposed tax or fee increases proposed in the budget,” he reported to city leaders. “However, revenues are extremely tight, and expenses continue to increase. While we can work together to reduce expenses, city council should also over the next fiscal year be aware of the revenue situation for consideration of potential adjustments.”

During financial reviews over the past few months, the city has continued to run slightly over budget with expenses compared to projections. With four months left in the current fiscal year, the city is expected to make adjustments to expenses in order to make sure the city concludes the 2024-25 fiscal year with a balanced budget.

Personnel costs in the fire and police departments have been running higher this year, Herron has stated. One notable factor points to market rate adjustments to salaries in these departments which have created competitive wages. This has helped fill vacancies and progressively stabilize employee staffing.

Herron noted that Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger has initiated some changes in the department that have been successful, including the implementation of 12-hour shifts.

Public safety is the proposed budget’s largest expenditure group, the city manager explained. The proposed budget for the police department is $9,524,370, compared to the current budget of $8,801,752, while the projected fire department budget is $10,633,951, compared to the current budget of $10,628,683.

According to figures contained in the summary, the fire department is currently over budget this current fiscal year by more than $879,000 — most of which can be attributed to the fire pension fund and to overtime.

In light of what promises to be a tight fiscal year, one factor not included in the proposed 2025-26 general fund budget are employee wage adjustments.

“Unfortunately, this proposed budget doesn’t include across-the-board wage increases,” Herron said. “The city has been able to afford increases over the past three years; however, this year’s budget has constricted to the point that an increase is not financially feasible at this time. However, as has been the case for the past several years, once the current budget year ends on June 30, 2025, this issue is routinely revisited as part of the year-end review.”