The City of Moundsville 2008-2009

Budget Message

Presented by

City Manager Allen Hendershot

I respectfully submit the City of Moundsville 2008-2009 fiscal year proposed operating budget. This submission represents the revenues and expenditures in the general fund and coal severance fund. Copies of the budget proposal will be made available upon request at the City Treasurer’s Office.

The proposed 2008-2009 budget reflects projected revenues of $6,578,098. The projected expenditures for 2008-2009 are $6,578,098. These estimates reflect a balanced budget for the 2009 fiscal year.

The Council of the City of Moundsville, Mayor Lemasters, Councilman Cunningham, DiRemigio, Haynes, Simms, Wallace and Wood have worked diligently to keep costs low while providing quality service to our citizens. There have been no increases in taxes or fees since the 1995 fiscal year.

The steps taken by City Council to keep taxes low in the past several years include assuming sanitation collections and striving to promote continued business growth. Our aggressive safety program has improved worker safety and helped keep workers compensation costs at a minimum. Our efforts to market liability insurance and maintain effective programs have caused a reduction in our liability insurance premium while increasing coverage levels.

Attempts to balance the budget without increases in taxes or fees, while operating costs have continued to raise dramatically, have caused our employees salaries to fall woefully behind other local similarly placed employees.

The City of Moundsville Police Department handles more complaints and 911 calls than all other municipalities in the county combined. Our Police department is highly trained and maintains an excellent level of professionalism. They are one of the lowest paid law enforcement agencies in the county with the City of Cameron being the only department with lower entry level salaries. Note: the City of Cameron has no full time certified patrol officers.

Our professional firefighters are dedicated to improving the level of service they provide the community. From a first responders program for medical emergencies, Haz Mat training, certifications and responses, rope training and fire prevention activities the department continues to improve their ability to make Moundsville a safer place to live and work. The Moundsville Fire Department is one of the lowest paid professional fire departments in the state.

We continue to expend the same Municipal fee dollars on paving and repairs of streets and alleys as expended in 1993. Paving and material costs have increased by 1/3 in just the past five years. These

increases have severely limited our ability to patch and pave streets and maintain alleys.

Increases in fuel costs and tipping fees at local landfills have negatively effected the profitability of the sanitation department. This department is now being subsidized by general fund dollars. The fees charged by the City of Moundsville are considerably lower than those paid to other Municipalities in the area and have not been increased since the departments inception in 2002.

To address these situations City Council has determined increases in fees and taxes, to offset growing funding deficiencies and bring employee salaries in line with neighboring communities, are needed and appropriate.

The 2009 operating budget includes increases in the following fees and taxes:

• Public Safety fee to be increased $.01 cent per Sq. Ft.

• This increase will generate $79,400 toward public safety employees salaries.

• B&O retail sales to be increased $.05 cents.

  • This increase will generate $100,000 toward general fund expenses.

• Sanitation rates to increase $1.01 per month.

  • This increase will generate approx. $74,000 and cover increased operating costs in the sanitation department.

• Municipal fee to increase $2.50 per month.

  • This increase will generate approx. $137,000 and will be used strictly for street paving and maintenance.

I would like to again thank our County Commissioners Padlow, Byard and Mason for their financial support of our efforts to raze the Fostoria site and create the opportunity for economic and labor growth for the city.

I would also like to thank our state legislative team for continuing to provide assistance through state funding and legislation to promote local community needs. Senators Kessler and Edgel and Delegates Varner and Tucker work diligently to improve the business atmosphere for municipalities. These efforts promote more effective local govern-ment. Legislation is being considered at this time to assist municipalities with difficult Police and Fire pension issues.

In closing, I would like to thank our department heads and employees for their dedication and outstanding service to our community. The employees are the front line of any communities efforts to provide programing to the public. We can be very proud of our employees and their efforts.