MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The City of Morgantown has officially introduced leaders for two city departments. John Furgison has been named the Director of Finance and Brad Riffie has been named the Director of Communications.
John Furgison was formally introduced in front of Morgantown City Council on Tuesday as part of a presentation of an approximately $1.24 million carryover from the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. Furgison, a Certified Public Accountant from upstate New York who formerly worked for Mon Health, will take over for former City of Morgantown Financial Director Kevin Tennant, who departed from the position earlier this year. The adjustment was approved in a 6-0 vote by the council (Councilor Brian Butcher was not in attendance, Councilor Danielle Trumble attended virtually) after Ferguson expressed excitement over his new position in the city.
“I’m very excited to be here in West Virginia, been here for two years, I was in public accounting for 19 years, I do have my masters in business administration, concentration in loan and finance,” said Furgison as he introduced himself. “I was working for Mon Health, and now I’m working for the City of Morgantown.”
As part of his first presentation in front of the Morgantown City Council, Furgison stated that of the approximately $1.24 million in excess funds that will be carried over, just over half will go towards contributions towards city employee insurance benefits. This will account for what has been reported as an increase in insurance claims across multiple city departments based on numbers reported from FY 2024. With the expectation that similar claims will be reported for FY25, Furgison and city finance employees recommended this plan of action ahead of the council’s approval.
“This budget modification (is made) to increase the departments across the board, because of anticipated increases in overall insurance and worker’s comp,” said Furgison.
Furgison also added that, outside of just over $361,000 allocated for contingencies, the remaining approximately $310,000 will be used for separate equipment purchases for at least eight departments. This includes budget allocations for the City Manager’s Office, City Clerk’s Office, the City Department of Planning and Zoning, the City Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Department of Public Transit and Morgantown Public Library. A just over $68,000 allocation was also allocated to support a Microsoft systems upgrade, all of which were supported from funds not spent from the previous fiscal year.
“We’re not talking about whether or not we’re raising money for this, this is money that is unspent, and we would like to spend it now,” Furgison said.
Ahead of the approval of the budget adjustment by the council, Furgison expressed confidence in the City of Morgantown Finance Department and the team left behind after Tennant’s departure. He will also bring close to two decades of accounting experience to the position, which includes work in both the private and public sectors. As he prepares to deal with financial discussions over social service support, fire and safety funding, and basic road maintenance, among other topics, Ferguson is ready to serve the City of Morgantown and its residents.
“We have a very strong team in the Finance Department, really happy over that, we did hit the ground running and we are working through everything that has to be done,” said Furgison.
Riffee earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Fairmont State University and since 2020, he has been the Executive Director of the United Way of Harrison and Doddridge Counties. In that role, he created a community development plan to enhance the organization’s marketing and community outreach and managed over 3,000 donors while focusing on growth.