Lexington council members working on new community development funding rules

WEKU | By Stu Johnson

Lexington City Council members are moving forward with modifications to internal fund allocations. Each Council member has what’s called neighborhood development funding of $15,000. That is up from $10,000 last year. An audit revealed little in terms of oversight. Ninth Council District Representative Whitney Baxter said tighter rules are needed.

“So, I think as long as there is a dialogue between an organization and this body, I’m ok with that. I just want there to be some type of accountability, like I said, that we are being good stewards of taxpayer dollars and that we can account for how that money is being spent in the community,” said Baxter.

Vice Mayor Dan Wu said he’s in agreement with tighter rules as it relates to the NDF program. He said it’s basically going from no rules to some guidelines that Wu finds not too onerous.

Council committee members got a briefing on Tuesday about proposed changes. Council Administrator Stacey Maynard said 50% of funds in an election year is set aside and not distributed.

“So, once we create the budget, then I work with budgeting and they hold back half of your entire budget. And that’s just to leave budget for whoever comes in cause apparently at one point someone spent it all and the person coming into office didn’t have any money,” said Maynard.

There was also discussion this week about a proposed consistent seating arrangement for meetings. Some members expressed concern about being positioned in the same seat for each meeting during their terms.

---

WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, fact-based journalism. Monthly sustaining donors are the top source of funding for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation

Photo by Stu Johnson

Republished with permission.