Huntington’s two largest departments are unaffected by changes to their budgets after giving up several hundred thousand dollars to the paving fund.
Both the city’s police and fire departments gave up almost $200,000 after members of City Council decided to increase the funds for street paving, said Deron Runyon, director of finance for the City of Huntington.
“Each department is affected differently,” Runyon said. “Police and fire are completely different in the things they do, and their budgets are different because of that.”
Police Chief Skip Holbrook said the $134,000 cut in funding does not impede police service.
“It does not interfere with our services,” Holbrook said. “It takes us right to the edge before it does affect a position or service.”
Runyon said the police department has not eliminated any positions, but it must rely on grant money to supplement its account. This includes money from Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Agency and DARE, among others.
These grants allow the police department to move money among accounts, Holbrook said.
“We felt comfortable enough to move some money from specific items and that will allow us to come up with the money,” he said.
He also said the department will refrain from vacant positions. The fire department will also hold off on filling vacant positions until January, Runyon said.
Although each department requests a specific amount of money based on its needs, City Council has the ultimate authority to decide the final budget.
“They approve it at a departmental level,” Runyon said. “They make the ultimate decision.”
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