T-L Photo/SHELLEY HANSON TERI LEASURE, the new parking enforcer for the city of Martins Ferry, checks a meter in front of the city building for overtime parking. The city of Martins Ferry recently approved an $11,872,926 budget for fiscal year 2021.

MARTINS FERRY — Martins Ferry City Council approved an $11,872,926 budget for fiscal year 2021.

City Auditor Rita Randall said this year’s budget is similar to last year’s but noted the city could see more income tax revenue in the future since East Ohio Regional Hospital is now up and running again. That means more property tax revenues and more income tax revenue from its employees.

The current estimate is that the city will receive about $1.4 million in total income tax revenues. The income tax is one of the city’s largest sources of revenue for its general fund.

“It will be several months before we really have an idea of how much income we will be getting month by month,” Randall noted.

Other factors on income tax collections include how many businesses will have a loss this year, and how many people are unemployed, she added.

“So that is a big question mark on income tax and the levies,” Randall said. “It is a wait and see if ours drops and then adjustments will have to be made to the budget.”

She noted another big source of income is the water plant.

“It will be changing this year due to the hookup with Bridgeport, and those figures are being worked out at this time,” she said.

Martins Ferry began selling water to the village of Bridgeport after it was discovered some village wells were contaminated.

Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies said the city’s general fund is “always tight,” but the city has worked well with the unions it is contracted with to keep costs under control in the budget.

“The street department is in decent shape. We’ll do more paving this year,” he said.

Davies said he will continue to operate in the street superintendent role with help from his service director, Andy Sutak. Not rehiring for this position is saving the city about $50,000 annually, he noted.

“We’re out and about every day anyway,” he said, adding the city employees are good about getting work done without constantly being told what to do. “They strap on their boots and go to work.”

During the pandemic last year, the street superintendent was laid off. And other street department workers were shifted to the water department to avoid additional layoffs. Now those workers will continue to be used in both departments as needed, he said.

“Some street guys are working in the (water) department. We put guys where they’re needed and they get paid from that fund. We get more work done that way,” Davies said.

Randall noted the city’s biggest expense is its employees, but having a carryover helps in this respect.

“The biggest expense is the work force and that is still a guessing game because it will depend on income coming in. There was a carryover from last fiscal year which will be a big help this year,” she said.

Davies said the carryover in the general fund was $479,718.

“Normally anything above $200,000 is a good year,” he said of carryovers.

Davies noted that having a larger carryover is significant for the city, as this time last year city officials believed they might have to lay off the entire street department to keep the budget afloat.

“The only person eliminated was the street superintendent job. … We made adjustments and worked with the unions,” he said. “It’s just a matter or working together. I think we’re going to have a decent year this year.

“We’ve got the hospital … and we have some other signs of business coming to town. I see sunny days coming. I pray for the best every day.”