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Key budget proposals

February 14, 2010 @ 12:00 AM

Mayor Kim Wolfe presented his proposed 2010-2011 budget to City Council members Saturday. Here is a summary of the key measures in the budget as well as some initiatives that Wolfe announced during his State of the City address:

FURLOUGHS: Wolfe is proposing to offset revenue losses with 20-day rolling furloughs for all city employees. Elected officials -- Wolfe and City Council's 11 representatives -- would be exempt. The proposal would save the city approximately $1.1 million.

The furloughs would begin in September or October. The forced, unpaid time off would be taken over the fiscal year as it best suits the employee's department or the employee.

LAYOFFS: The Police Department would lay off eight civilian employees, leaving only one civilian for the entire department. The Fire Department is faced with laying off all three of its civilian employees.

PAVING: Wolfe's budget proposes to spend $600,000 on paving. The city spent $800,000 on paving this fiscal year.

CITIZEN SUPPORT CENTER: A feature that Wolfe labeled a "citizen support center" will debut on the city's newly-designed web site, www.cityofhuntington.com, this week. It will allow citizens to find answers to frequently asked questions, submit questions and requests for service and check on the status of those requests, he said.

EMPLOYEE TRAINING: Wolfe announced a partnership with Unlimited Futures Inc., a small-business incubator, to train employees in areas such as relationship development with citizens and other employees, effective communication skills, time management and leadership. Other training initiatives include defensive driving classes for the Police Department and storm water management.