photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder speaks during a budget work session with council members and city administrators this month, discussing the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

WHEELING — City officials are considering ways to trim Wheeling’s expenses and adjust revenue streams as they continue to hammer out what promises to be a tight operating budget for 2025-26.

For the first time in recent history, the city may tap into money from its Budget Stabilization Fund — or at least interest revenues from this fund — in order to help reinforce the next fiscal year’s general fund budget.

And while one councilman suggested a few ways to trim the budget, other council members weren’t on board with those ideas.

City officials are slated to gather for their last scheduled budget work session at 5 p.m. today in council chambers. Officials met earlier this month for a previous work session to discuss proposed budget figures submitted by City Manager Robert Herron. Numbers were crunched after reviewing budget requests for the coming fiscal year from the various department heads, and council members have been reviewing those numbers.

The general fund budget for the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, is estimated to be nearly $39.8 million.

“I know the tight budget is very difficult,” said Mayor Denny Magruder, thanking the city manager and the department heads for their efforts in crafting the proposal for expenses and revenues for the coming year. “I know that you all work diligently. I know it’s a chore, and I know you guys have done a diligent job with it. It’s a tough year – not only for cities but across the country right now. Things are changing, and it’s going to be tough to budget for all governmental agencies.”

Herron noted that the process of ironing out the proposed budget in the spring — several months before the start of the next fiscal year — is one that is required by West Virginia law. The city must submit a balanced budget to the state later this month. The proposed budget is slated to be adopted by Wheeling City Council during its next meeting on Thursday, March 20 – a meeting date that was rescheduled because city leaders plan to attend the annual West Virginia Municipal League Conference earlier in the week.

“This budget, as has been the case for the last several years, is a basic operation budget that enables the city government to operate beginning July 1 through the following June 30,” Herron said. “It does not include capital improvements.”

Over the past few years, the city coffers had been substantially supplemented with pandemic relief funds. From Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, tens of millions of dollars had been funneled through the city and distributed to the community to help recover from economic impacts of the pandemic.

With that money allocated, the city has since been running on a much tighter budget this fiscal year. In fact, expenses for the city have been running slightly ahead of the current budget – particularly in personnel costs for the police and fire departments. Officials have indicated that because of vacancies, the departments have had to utilize overtime pay to cover shifts. Herron also explained that the city has offered more competitive wages in order to solidify staffing for these vital departments.

No wage increases for city employees are included in the proposed budget, and no increases in fees or taxes are included, either. Instead, some tweaks are being proposed in order to make sure projected revenues and expenditures remain balanced.

“There are a couple of proposed revenue changes, none of which equate to a fee or tax increase,” Herron said. “With a sales tax allocation adjustment, we have an opportunity to enhance the General Fund revenue a little bit.”

Herron proposed adjusting the city’s Sales Tax Restricted Capital Improvement Project fund allocations to bolster the General Fund. Overall, the fund is expected to generate $6,195,652 for the fiscal year. He suggested redirecting 1% of the allocations from WesBanco Arena and to the RCIP Infrastructure line items to the General Fund. These revenue pools are used to pay off debt service for arena improvements and for construction of the new Market Street Parking Garage.

Herron said trimming 1% from each of these line items and redirecting $124,000 in sales tax revenue to the General Fund will still leave enough money to cover debt service for both the arena and parking garage.

The city manager also recommended tapping into interest income from the city’s Budget Stabilization Fund, a rainy day fund that had been bolstered in recent years by CARES Act funding.

“This is the first time we’ve recommended this,” Herron said. “We currently have $5.4 million in our budget stabilization fund. I am recommending that a $500,000 contribution, which by the time that contribution is needed will be there as far as interest income, be transferred to the general fund – maintaining the base of $5 million.”

Councilman Ben Seidler suggested other potential areas of savings during the budget work session last week.

“How critical is the Centre Market Manager position with our finances? Is that a position that can be rolled into some other department here?” Seidler asked.

“I think it’s a very critical position,” Herron said. “That’s a huge asset that we have down there. The facility itself is in need of constant supervision, and there are a number of events held down there. Coordination with non-Center Market vendors is also part of those job duties.”

Seidler also suggested trimming the city’s contribution to the Ohio County Health Department. The councilman expressed frustration with the department when seeking help for code enforcement and other issues.

“What services do we receive in the city from them? What’s the purpose of that money?” Seidler asked, suggesting that $50,000 from this line item be repurposed. “We have a tight budget, and I’m not sure we get a whole lot out of that. There are a lot of line items on here that we just rubber stamp. We’ve always just had a line item on here for that. I don’t think it’s a critical line item on their budget.”

Wheeling is set to provide $70,000 to the health department — $50,000 from a budget line item through finance and $20,000 from the city’s Coal Severance budget. Herron explained that the city and the Ohio County Commission both contribute $70,000 to the health department, which also receives revenue from a variety of sources for an annual budget that is around $1.9 million, he said.

“I think they do provide vital services,” Councilman Ty Thorngate said. “We’re part of the county. We’re talking about WIC funds and things they do for our community. I get what you’re saying – you’ve had some issues with them. But overall, I don’t think we should punish them in light of what they do provide.”

Others on council agreed that the health department provides needed services and funding should remain in place.

“I believe that with the way things were going with Medicaid cuts and everything, I think we should leave it there,” Councilwoman Connie Cain said. “They do a lot.”