The city of Wheeling’s general fund budget has ballooned about 25% over the past 10 years, going from a little more than $32 million to the proposed $40.2 million for fiscal 2025-26. The coming year’s budget also is $1.4 million more than the 2024-25 budget approved this time last year.

Despite the increased tax collections, the coming budget will be tight, according to City Manager Robert Herron. In fact, for the first time, the city is expected to tap into its Budget Stabilization Fund to help keep next year’s budget balanced.

Rising costs obviously have contributed to this, along with an extra $922,618 budgeted for the city police department for next year and $316,000 for the recreation department. Giving the increasing costs, it was good to see discussion this past week on city spending and the budget’s future, even though the particulars of those discussions didn’t gain any traction.

Councilman Ben Seidler, in two separate meetings, called for reducing the city’s annual contribution to the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department and also for restructuring the Centre Market manager position. Both are ideas that wouldn’t lead to much in the way of savings and frankly would negatively impact the city’s future.

Consider:

The Health Department provides services for all residents, from vaccines to overseeing public health issues. It is important work that must be done. Taking away funding would potentially impact services city residents rely upon.

The market manager position? Eliminating that also would make little sense. With all the changes taking place in Center Wheeling with the demolition of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center and the planned WVU Medicine Regional Cancer Center on the horizon, why would you even consider leaving Centre Market rudderless? A better path, in our opinion, would be to expand the manager’s duties to focus on preparing the market for the future — a facelift would be appropriate at some point along with ensuring the right tenant mix to serve what will essentially be a new clientele.

While no members of council agreed with those ideas, it’s clear that a broader discussion on city spending needs to happen at some point. Wheeling, much like every other city in America, had been on a spending-spree for the past five years with all the federal dollars that flowed into the coffers. Those days are over. The federal government now appears poised to cut deeply into funds that had been available for local governments, and lawmakers in Charleston are unpredictable at best this legislative session.

There’s also Wheeling’s shrinking population base to consider. The city, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates, has 26,208 residents. So at a time when the city budget continues to rise, the number of residents is headed in the opposite direction. That’s not a sustainable long-term model.

Does the 2025-26 budget mark a fork in the road when it comes to the city’s finances? Perhaps. Herron has been prudent with the city’s finances over the years, building in the budget stabilization fund that now sits at $5 million. But the fact it’s being tapped into this year — coming off a time when councils past had spent freely on building acquisition, demolitions and more — shows that, unless something changes, tough decisions lie ahead.

That’s why Seidler was right to get council and the mayor at least thinking now about what changes will be necessary in the future. Perhaps that will mean another round of right-sizing; there are not many options available. The key here is not to wait until the city’s hand is forced.