Updike gives State of the City Address

HUNTINGTON, Ind. (WANE)-- - Few cities have been hit as hard by the tough economic times as Huntington.

Thursday the mayor addressed that head on in his 'state of the city' address.

Steve Updike says he did not like having to lay off several firefighters and other city workers last year, but that it was a move he had to make because the city has not had enough tax revenue coming in.

He says more layoffs are probably coming this year.
Steve Updike said, “The money is not coming in! Now I don’t mean to be mean about that. I don’t mean to be flippant about it. But as a mayor, you get so frustrated….that you can see you don’t have the money coming in. What do you do?”

Mayor Updike says he will take the heat, but that he has no other options if people will not approve new taxes or fees to pay for public services.