Council has allocated the City’s Fund Balance!

Last Tuesday, Council decided how to spend $20 million in Fund Balance money! Fund Balance refers to leftover money from the previous Fiscal Year’s Budget that hasn’t been spent. The last Fiscal Year’s budget ended on June 30th, 2024.

The Mayor’s Administration made ten recommendations for how the funding should be spent. Of those, Council supported:

• $8.5 million to the Capital Project Reserve Fund, which could be used for a New City Hall in the future (the Mayor’s original recommendation was $10 million)

• $1.5 million, allocating $100,000 to all Councilmembers and the Vice Mayor for their Council Capital Funds

• $750k to develop an Infrastructure Funding Plan for the Urban Service Boundary expansion areas

• $141,211 to assist NAMI in buying a new building (the Mayor’s original request was $225k)

• $45k for a Philharmonic concert for the 250Lex celebration next year.

Councilmember-requested projects that were funded include:

• $500k for a Downtown Master Plan that would set a vision for future development in Lexington’s urban center (District 3 Councilmember Hannah LeGris)

• $3.5 million to renovate the Fire Department Training Facility on Old Frankfort Pike (At-Large Councilmember James Brown)

• $100k to Social Services to support the recommendations of the Gun Violence Task Force (District 11 Councilmember Jennifer Reynolds; the original request was $75k)

• $500k to fund the Nonprofit Capital Grants program in Fiscal Year 2026.

Council also allocated $1 million to the nonprofit organization Undue Medical Debt, who will leverage the money to cancel millions of dollars of medical debt for Fayette County residents.

• To free up more Fund Balance money for other requests, Council chose to fund this request from Vice Mayor Dan Wu using interest that has accrued for the city from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

Of the several projects requested by Councilmembers to improve parks across Lexington, only a shelter at the Veterans’ Park dog park was approved ($90k). Several Councilmembers were reluctant to support parks projects using Fund Balance, citing that Councilmembers could use their own Capital Funds, private donations, or potentially draw funds from the large Capital Project Fund.

Some Councilmembers also mentioned that the Parks Sustainable Funding Ballot Initiative, if it passes, could fund several of the requested parks projects.

Here is the full list of all allocations made using Fund Balance:

• $1.5 million, allocating $100,000 to all Councilmembers and the Vice Mayor for their Council Capital Funds (Mayor Linda Gorton)

• $1.110 million for a bonus for full-time City employees (Mayor Gorton)

• $750k to develop an Infrastructure Funding Plan for the Urban Service Boundary expansion areas (Mayor Gorton)

• $141,211 to assist NAMI in buying a new building (the Mayor’s original request was $225k)

• $45k for a Philharmonic concert for the 250Lex celebration next year (Mayor Gorton)

• $400k for the second phase development of an ADA Transition Plan (District 5 Councilmember Liz Sheehan)

• $500k for a Downtown Master Plan that would set a vision for future development in Lexington’s urban center (District 3 Councilmember Hannah LeGris)

• $76k to the Lexington Childrens Museum for costs associated with their recently completed Master Plan, and to help develop a fundraising plan (District 9 Councilmember Whitney Baxter)

• $2 million to fund paving projects, which would reduce the City’s bond package for paving this year to $10 million (District 10 Councilmember Dave Sevigny)

• $3.5 million to renovate the Fire Department Training Facility on Old Frankfort Pike (At-Large Councilmember James Brown)

• $100k to Social Services to support the recommendations of the Gun Violence Task Force (District 11 Councilmember Jennifer Reynolds; the original request was $75k).

• $500k to fund the Nonprofit Capital Grants program in Fiscal Year 2026 (At-Large Councilmember Chuck Ellinger).

• $107k for the Robert H. Williams Cultural Center, funding building improvements and a feasibility study for further renovations (Councilmember James Brown)

• $90k for a shelter at Veterans Park’s dog park (District 12 Councilmember Kathy Plomin)

• $150k for a feasibility study for A Caring Place’s vision to expand their work across Lexington (District 2 Councilmember Lynch)

• $500k to the City’s housing stabilization programs with Legal Aid of the Bluegrass and Kentucky Equal Justice Center (Councilmember Lynch)

• $19k to join the National League of Cities (District 6 Councilmember Denise Gray)

• $140k to Commerce Lexington to support their Minority Small Business Development program (District 7 Councilmember Preston Worley)

Republished from CivicLex.

CivicLex’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

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