MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Morgantown City Council has approved revisions to two separate city funds to account for health insurance benefits along with three projects and programs.
The council unanimously approved adjustments to the City of Morgantown General Fund and the City Capital Escrow Fund that will be used to assist with insurance payments for the Morgantown Municipal Library and for the City Maintenance Garage Project, the Metropolitan Theatre Light Project, as well as a new marketing program for the Morgantown Municipal Airport. City Finance Director Jonathan Furgison detailed the adjustments to the council during their regular meeting Tuesday, which included over $1.7 million in adjustments affecting close to a half dozen city-related budgets.
“This budget revision will serve 3 purposes. The first one is to help fund or to solidify the budget funding of the city garage improvement project.” said Furgison.
The most significant revisions were made to the City Capital Escrow Fund where over $1.6 million in adjustments were made to account for the approximately $3.24 million City Maintenance Garage Project. According to Furgison, the project will include a contribution of approximately $96,000 from the Morgantown Utility Board, a carry over of approximately $235,000 in the Capital Escrow Fund from the previous fiscal year as well as a contribution of approximately $1.2 million which will come from the Morgantown Building Commission Fund using unspent proceeds from Lease Revenue Refunding Bonds that were issued by the commission in 2022.
“It’s related to the stormwater mitigation work carried out by the city, in connection with the construction for public improvements on the Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park,” said Furgison, related to the funds contributed by MUB. “Next we have a prior year fund carryover, and then, finally, we have the budget contributions from the Building Commission Fund,” he said.
Approximately $310,000 will be decreased from the Capital Escrow Fund Contingency Budget to account for the adjustment. Budgeted expenditures for capital outlay focused on building renovations will be increased by approximately $1.69 million to account for the allocation in capital escrow.
For the Metropolitan Theatre Light Project, Furgison reported that the adjustments to the City of Morgantown Capital Escrow Fund will allow for approximately $100,000 in grant funding to be accepted by the city. According to Furgison, the project that includes the installation of an electronic theater lighting system received two separate grants valued at $50,000, which will be directed to the Capital Escrow Fund via the Capital Outlay budget for The Met.
“So the first $50,000 grant was from the West Virginia Cultural Facilities and Capital Resources, or CFCR grant,” said Furgison. “The second grant was a Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust grant,” he said.
An additional $18,000 will be moved from the Capital Escrow Fund into the City of Morgantown Capital Outlay Fund for the airport to allow for the Morgantown Municipal Airport to advertise the new Essential Air Service (EAS) provider SkyWest. The funds were accumulated from interest gained from funds placed in the City of Morgantown Capital Escrow Fund money market account.
For the adjustment to the City of Morgantown General Fund, Furgison reported that approximately $11,600 will be moved from the City of Morgantown Contingency Fund to account for monthly insurance payments for the Morgantown Municipal Library. Furgison stated that this was supported to allow for financial stability for the library, which would’ve been at risk of being on financial straights for the remainder of the fiscal year. The hope is that the adjustment will keep employees at the library on the City of Morgantown’s self-funded health insurance plan.
“The amount that we are invoicing them (Morgantown Library) for their health insurance may put them under a financial strain for the remaining six months of their fiscal year,” said Furgison on the need to make the adjustment to the City General Fund budget.
“This budget revision was at the recommendation and after a discussion with (city-supported) self-funded health insurance work group,” he said.