photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron, left, and Mayor Denny Magruder attend a meeting of Wheeling City Council on Tuesday night.

WHEELING — Despite what by all accounts appears to be a tight fiscal budget for 2025-26, city of Wheeling employees will be getting an across-the-board pay raise this year.

Additionally, the position of Economic Development Specialist is also expected to be revived.

Earlier this year when city leaders were hammering out the 2025-26 fiscal year budget, it was noted several times that the projected revenues and expenditures for the year were expected to be tight. In fact, no pay increase had been budgeted for this fiscal year, which began July 1.

However, the city was able to finish the past fiscal year that ended June 30 with a cash carryover, and a portion of that money is being used to fund a pay hike for city workers.

“Thank you to the Finance Committee members this evening and the rest of council for their input on this important endeavor for the increase for our very hard working employees and also for the reviving of the Economic Development Specialist,” Councilman Dave Palmer, chairman of the Finance Committee of Council, said during Tuesday’s council meeting.

During a review of the June financial report and a year-end fiscal review Tuesday night, City Manager Robert Herron noted that the city ended up finishing FY 2024-25 with a surplus of nearly $375,000 — a figure slightly higher than the $368,000 amount reported last month. Herron noted that some additional interest revenue had been received before the end of the last fiscal year.

“We’re kind of trending toward a little tighter situation. But the fact that we did come in with that cash carryover is excellent, and we still have $5.4 million in our Budget Stabilization Fund,” Herron said.

Because of the carryover, council approved new resolutions Tuesday for General Fund Budget and Coal Severance Revenue Budget revisions for FY 2025-26.

“The changes are predominantly to reallocate the carryover from last year to this year going forward,” city Finance Director Nathan Greene said.

Herron recommended that a portion of the cash carryover be used to fund the raises and the Economic Development Specialist position, which has not been utilized for the past few years.

“I think we can afford that this year,” Herron said, noting that this will require “massaging” the budget to make up for the additional money needed.

“The 2.5% increase represents approximately $481,000 to the General Fund,” Herron said. “We feel comfortable with the cash carryover funding a portion of that.”

Greene said the remaining funds needed to cover these costs should come in the form of both revenues and in projected savings from expenditures on personnel, noting, “I think that with hirings in the police and fire departments that are pulling back on a lot of the overtime expenses, I think that’s going to create a lot of room for some additional regular pay.”

The Economic Development Specialist position will be funded for 10 months and will likely launch in September to carry it through the end of this fiscal year. Herron indicated that the position will be a $90,000 one, with an overall cost to the city of about $102,000 with salary and benefits.

“We do have a number of projects that we’re trying to attract private sector investment in,” Herron said. “Several years ago, Kurt Zende was in that position. We also had a Centre Market manager at the time. That person left, and Kurt assumed both roles.”

When the city acquired the former Ohio Valley Medical Center property, Zende ended up managing that, as well, Herron said.

“So we’ve kind of gotten away from the Economic Development Specialist’s position, and just based on everything that’s going on — 1400 block of Market Street, Market Street Parking Structure, WVU Cancer Center project and the property across the street from it, as well as general economic development and promotion of the city — I think having that position will be very beneficial,” Herron noted, adding that the current market manager position — which is filled — should remain separate.

Mayor Denny Magruder agreed.

“I feel very strongly that the economic development position is really necessary,” Magruder said. “I think the time is ripe for us to really go head first into the economic development trend of trying to inventory some of those empty spaces we have.”

The mayor indicated that the specialist could work with developers and private investors — such as those with the Wash Rite Car Wash business — to find available locations that may be both suitable to them and agreeable to residents and the Wheeling Planning Commission.

“I think this is one of the biggest needs of the city right now,” Councilman Ben Seidler added. “I would recommend that this position report directly to the city manager. I don’t think there’s a greater need in the city than this position.”

Members of the Finance Committee approved the recommendation regarding the pay increases for city employees and the funding of the Economic Development Specialist position. City council subsequently approved the budget revision that accounted for the reallocation of money via the cash carryover from the previous fiscal year.