A deeper look at the Mayor’s Proposed FY22 Budget
Here’s one thing this week to watch in city hall… (still) the city’s budget process.
📺 - Watch the city budget meetings using the times below
This is a continuation of the past two weeks’ budget posts and celebrates the release of our Guide to the FY22 Proposed Budget. Make sure to check out all of our other budget coverage below:
Our issue coverage post “What’s different about the Mayor’s proposed FY22 budget?”
Our issue coverage post “What to look for in the Mayor’s proposed budget”
You can also check out the city’s official budget information here:
Why should you care?
If you care about any issue that impacts Lexington residents, you should pay attention to this process.
If you’ve ever been to a CivicLex Budget Workshop, you’ve likely heard one of us say that “a city’s budget is an expression of its values.” We say this because budgets paint a transparent picture of what a city places value on - and what it does not. While there is always additional context to know, budgets are an excellent starting point for understanding a city’s priorities, structure, and how you can best advocate for the issues that motivate you.
The Mayor’s proposed budget sets the tone for the entire budgeting process. As our community representation on Council negotiates what programs will be funded in the upcoming year, they are doing so from the starting place of the proposed budget. If you are interested in shaping what our city prioritizes (and funds), it’s now time to start getting involved.
How does the Mayor’s Proposed Budget break down sectorally?
We interpret much of our work through a commonly used framework of sectors of Community Development. You can see that framework below.
The city budget is no exception. Re-organizing the budget around this framework makes understanding the impacts of city appropriations easier to comprehend. To do this, we go through each line of the budget and assign each line item to one of these twelve sectors.
With the Mayor’s FY22 budget re-organized into our sectoral framework, you get the following:
Now, let’s go through each sector and see where funding is going and what is new.
Agriculture & Food Systems
This sector accounts for $2,216,670.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 0.3% of City Appropriations. It is up 945.45% from last year’s budget.
We found that 100% of appropriations tagged to this sector were for the Purchase of Development Rights program (PDR), which buys the right to develop horse farm lands for their preservation. Funds for the Director of Local Food & Agricultural Development couldn’t be separated from other funding, otherwise that would have boosted this .
Significant changes from last FY: The PDR program is funded with $2M in funds to acquire new property development rights - no funds for acquisition were included last year.
Arts & Culture
This sector accounts for $1,218,287.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 0.16% of City Appropriations. It is up 22.97% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes Recreation Programs that are housed in Parks and Recreation, including the Downtown Arts Center and Festival Latino. Some Economic Development Agencies are tagged to Arts & Culture, they include the Lyric Theatre and LexArts. Additionally, some Special Programs are housed in the Mayor’s Office and include the Roots & Heritage Festival and the Sister Cities Program.
Significant changes from last FY: Many of the agencies that are traditionally funded through the General Services District Fund are being funded this year through the ARPA federal stimulus, which is one-time funding.
Community Design
This sector accounts for $5,542,964.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 0.75% of City Appropriations. It is down 30.35% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes the Division of Planning, which provides long and short term guidance on how our city grows. It includes Engineering, which oversees the design & implementation of capital projects, including roadway construction. It also includes Historic Preservation, which works with local and federal agencies to preserve historic properties.
Significant changes from last FY: Planning, Historic Preservation, and Engineering all received modest funding increases. The Chief Development Officer’s funding tagged to Community Design received a significant cut.
Development & Housing
This sector accounts for $6,358,159.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 0.86% of City Appropriations. It is down 9.84% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes the Division of Community and Resident Services, which provides housing assistance for families. It includes the Division of Grants & Special Programs, which oversees the Affordable Housing Fund and Homelessness Prevention. It also includes the Department of Housing Advocacy, a new city department focusing on all of the city’s housing work.
Significant changes from last FY: The Department of Housing Advocacy is new - and will come with a Commissioner and Community Development specialist. There was also a $1M increase in the affordable housing fund allocation.
Economic Development
This sector accounts for $2,269,710.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 0.31% of City Appropriations. This is down 45.78% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes Economic Development Agencies, which serves as a placeholder for Economic Development services for the city. The only Partner Agency tagged to this sector is the Bluegrass Area Development District. Also tagged to Economic Development is the Chief Development Officer & Administration, who oversee and coordinate Economic Development projects for the city.
Significant changes from last FY: Funding for the Chief Development Officer’s office was reduced by almost $1.5M. It was above normal levels last year from the LFUCG stimulus program - that may make a reappearance before the budget is approved.
Education
This sector accounts for $20,551,386.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 2.77% of City Appropriations. This is down 0.13% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes, Component Agencies, which are the Lexington Public Library and the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. Parks & Recreation operates the Extended School Program. Youth Services appropriations tagged to Education are for the Audrey Grevious Center.
Significant changes from last FY: Several Component Agencies were added back to the budget, including the Carnegie Center and the Explorium. The Youth Services allocation was increased by almost 20%.
Energy & Environment
This sector accounts for $ 142,770,824.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 19.22% of City Appropriations. This is up 15.30% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes the Division of Water Quality, which handles water quality issues and stormwater remediation issues to comply with Lexington’s EPA Consent Decree. Waste Management handles waste services for much of the city’s businesses and residents. Parks & Recreation manages the city’s park facilities and programs. Environmental Services houses the main point of the city’s engagement with the public regarding environmental issues.
Significant changes from last FY: Several significant increases - almost $1M to Environmental Services, $4M increase to Parks and Rec, and $17.5M to Water Quality.
General Government
This sector accounts for $ 195,007,697.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 26.28% of City Appropriations. This is up 10.59% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes Administrative Divisions, which are Grants & Special Programs ($1M), LexCall 311 ($1.3M), Human Resources ($3.4M), Law ($2.8M), Computer Services ($10.2M), Information Technology ($1.2M), Enterprise Solutions ($1.3M), Facilities & Fleet Management ($16.8), and more. It also includes Finance Divisions like Contingency Funds ($9.5M), Indirect Cost Allocation (-$6M), Finance Administration ($2.6M), Accounting ($1.6M), Revenue ($5.8M).
It also includes the council, Mayor’s Office, constitutional positions, debt service, and insurance.
It’s a lot!
Immigration
This sector accounts for $ 347,642.00 in the FY22 proposed budget, or 0.05% of City Appropriations.
For the first time, we’ve pulled Multicultural Services out of the Mayor’s Office, and brought it into its own sector, Immigration. These appropriations go entirely to Global Lex, a multilingual, multidisciplinary center where local residents and foreign-born population obtain information, access programs and services, meet to celebrate cultural events and visit our international art gallery.
Public Health
This sector accounts for $13,263,376.00 of the FY22 proposed budget, or 1.79% of City Appropriations. This is up 17.36% from last year’s budget.
Sector appropriations include the Division of Family Services, which provides services to families with young parents. Social Services Administration houses substance and domestic violence prevention programs as well as Partners for Youth. Youth Services provides casework for families facing disruptions. Aging & Disabilities operates the Senior Center and other programs. Social Service Agencies are external organizations funded through the ESR program. Office of the Mayor is funding for the Commission on Racial Justice and Equality.
Significant changes from last FY: An almost $1M increased allocation to the ESR program. An additional $1M to the Social Services Administration.
Public Safety
This sector accounts for $311,898,209.00 of the FY22 proposed budget, or 41.97% of City Appropriations. This is up 4.93% from last area’s budget.
This sector includes the Police, Fire & Emergency Services, Community Corrections, and the Public Safety Administrator, which includes Animal Control, Security, and Pension programs. Misc. includes the Divisions of Code Enforcement and Building Inspection.
Significant changes from last FY: A $4.15M increase to the Division of the Police for new recruits ($2M), new vehicles ($3M), and more. An additional $4M for Fire and Emergency Services for new fire vehicles. An additional $5M for police and fire pension costs in the Public Safety Administrator.
Transportation
This sector accounts for $41,724,726.00 of the FY22 proposed budget, or 5.61% of City Appropriations. This is up 85.65% from last year’s budget.
This sector includes the Division of Streets and Roads, which maintains all city and county roads, including repaving, snow removal, and street sweeping. Division of Traffic Engineering is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the city’s traffic control system.
Significant changes from last FY: The Division of Streets and Roads saw an increase of $16M for additional paving. There was also a $2.8M increase for the Division of Traffic Engineering as well.
So, what’s next?
With the Mayor’s Proposed Budget released, the city’s budget process is beginning to ramp up - and so is our budget education work! Budget Links - the council committees that listen to City staff and suggest recommended changes to the Mayor’s Proposed Budget - start this week.
All this means that if you want to advocate for changes, now’s the time to start reaching out to city staff and your council members. We recommend learning as much as you can about the budget before you begin any sort of budget-related advocacy work.
Here is the current schedule for future Council Budget Links. More will likely be added in the coming days. Subscribe to the CivicLex Public Meetings Calendar for the most up-to-date info.