Council Begins Work on LFUCG Budget

Budget Season officially kicked off last week with Mayor Linda Gorton’s Budget Address! This budget’s $531.8 million General Fund is the largest in Lexington’s history, and includes funding for a new Senior Center at Shillito Park, $4.79 million toward the Affordable Housing Fund, and much more.

What’s next in the budgeting process?

Council will begin working on the Proposed Budget as soon as this morning! Council will meet over the next several weeks in groups called Links. There are five Links, each made up of three Councilmembers, that will discuss and revise various aspects of the Proposed Budget. Once their revisions are done, each Link will deliver their new proposals to the full Council for approval or disapproval.

The five Links and their membership are:

• Chief Administrative Officer & Housing and Community Development: Chuck Ellinger (Chair), James Brown, Tayna Fogle

• Environmental Quality and Public Works: Hannah LeGris (Chair), Liz Sheehan, Dave Sevigny

• Finance, Economic Development, and Planning: Preston Worley (Chair), Kathy Plomin, Dan Wu.

• General Government and General Services: Whitney Elliott Baxter (Chair), Fred Brown, Denise Gray

• Public Safety and Social Services: Jennifer Reynolds (Chair), Shayla Lynch, Brenda Monarrez

Council Link meetings will begin this week, along with a Budget Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting where all Councilmembers will come together to have initial discussions on the Proposed Budget — you can review the Budget COW packet here. Here is the Budget meeting schedule for this week:

• General Government and General Services Link – Monday, April 22nd at 9:30am, Government Center Council Caucus Room

• Finance, Economic Development, and Planning Link – Tuesday, April 23rd at 9:30am, Government Center Council Caucus Room

• Budget COW – Tuesday, April 23rd at 1pm, Council Chambers & on LexTV

• Environmental Quality and Public Works Link – Wednesday, April 24th at 9:30am, Government Center Council Caucus Room

• Finance, Economic Development, and Planning Link – Thursday, April 25th at 12:30pm, Government Center Council Caucus Room

All Link meetings are scheduled and on the city calendar. Link meetings are open to the public, but do not take public comment. They also will not be streamed on LexTV.

Council will have a public hearing on the Proposed Budget during May 9th’s Council Meeting. You can also give public comment during any Council Work Session, Thursday night Council meeting, or by contact your Councilmember directly.

CivicLex staff is looking through the Budget thoroughly so we can bring you resources to help you further understand what’s in the Budget, how the process works, and how you can get involved.

• In the coming weeks, we’ll release our annual Proposed Budget Database, an interactive hub where you can look through all the numbers in Budget. We’ll also publish our annual Budget Guide that breaks down, in simple terms, what’s in the Mayor’s Proposed Budget!

• You can look through our past Budget resources here.

Republished from CivicLex.

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