Huntington city budget

After looking at the proposed 2009/2010 budgets for the city of Huntington, which has a population of 49,185 people and size in area of 15.9 square miles, total revenue was around $19,964,169 for 2009 and $39,990,304 for 2010. Expenditure estimates were $19,601,420 for 2009 and $38,919,497 for 2010. The business and occupation tax, property tax current and the municipal service fees are the sources where the city gets most of its revenue from. At the same time, the police, fire and insurance programs take most of the money in expenditures.

Regarding the most recent story on the Huntington city budget, the Herald-Dispatch posted an article titled "Budget concerns loom over session" on Jan. 10 2010. The article was about the legislature's session starting Jan. 13, 2009. On legislatures' minds will be the 3.4 percent cut from the general revenue budgets this year. This is in addition to the 197 million budget cut for 2010 as well. These cuts will lead to a five percent reduction in spending for 2010 overall. Federal stimulus dollars will cover some of these cuts, but the only stipulation is they have to be spent by 2011. Legislatures will have to think of ways to cover these tremendous cuts in the budget. One option is to dip into the state's rainy day fund.