Huntington City Budget proposal

To: Burnis Morris
From: Kelly Christian
Re: Story Outline: Proposed FY2012 budget for City of Huntington
Date: March 17, 2011

Subject: Proposed FY2012 budget is less than FY2011

Scope: I will examine the proposed city budget for the 2012 fiscal year and find out how much the budget has been cut and what major departments will be affected by the cuts. Departments receiving less money may have to lay off workers, as the mayor suggested in the State of the City address in January in addition to possibly cutting back some other services. I also will compare Huntington to a couple of similar cities to see if cutbacks are issues cities the sizes of Huntington in Ohio and Kentucky are facing, and other cities in West Virginia, such as Charleston.

Need: Huntington residents and Tri-State residents will be affected by cuts in the budget because less money possibly would mean less services, such as in the police and fire department, which affects the safety of anyone who lives and/or works in the city. Also, the departments affected will have an increased workload if staff is cut while attempting to maintain the same amount and quality of services.

Methods: This story can be documented by the city budget that has been proposed by Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe. I can also examine FY2011 budget to compare how budget cuts for FY2012. I will also examine the police and fire department budgets for my side bar. I will examine news articles about Charleston’s budget and other cities in Ohio and Kentucky.

Sources: In addition to examining the proposed budget for FY2012 and FY2011 budget, I will find some background information that has already been covered. I will review Wolfe’s proposals from his State of the City address to find if any additional major budget cuts have been made. I will talk to members of Huntington City Council about the proposed budget.

To compare Huntington to Charleston, I will look up Charleston’s proposed city budget and will examine news about Charleston’s proposed budget. I will also examine news about cities in similar to Huntington in Ohio and Kentucky to compare to Huntington.

Presentation: I will present two stories – a main story about the proposed budget and a side bar about two of the city’s major departments – fire and police. I will also present charts that show the major sources of Huntington’s funding and a chart showing where the city spends the money.

Follow-up: There will be a follow-up story when City Council adopts the FY2012 budget.