The latest on the FY 22/23 LFUCG Budget

• Access CivicLex’s FY22/23 Mayor’s Proposed Budget public database.

The Fiscal Year 2022 Budget has been passed! You can see the full 533 page adopted budget here, or read the division summary provided by LFUCG’s Finance Division here.

This does not mean that the budget is set in stone - now, any changes that happen (and there will be plenty!) have to be approved by a budget amendment and voted on by the full council during Council Work Sessions. Some of these amendments are small -like $24,804 for fence repairs at a baseball park - and some of them are large - like $1,077,860 for a Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. You can see a sample list of budget amendments from the August 30, 2022 Council Work Session.

📮 22/23 Budget Updates:

• June 13, 2022 - CivicLex Weekly

• June 5, 2022 - CivicLex Weekly

• May 31, 2022 - CivicLex Weekly

• May 2, 2022 - CivicLex Weekly

• April 23, 2022 - CivicLex Weekly

• April 18, 2022 - CivicLex Weekly

• January 24, 2022 - CivicLex Weekly

Our general impression of the FY22/23 budget:

After several years of austerity, Lexington came out of the pandemic better than it went in. Revenue and savings are up, unemployment is down – 3% vs 3.7% pre-pandemic – and a massive injection of aid – over $120M – via the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA, has left city leaders with almost more money than they can figure out how to spend.

Suddenly, the city has room to plan for large or innovative projects and community needs that had been previously too costly to consider. As a result, the FY23 budget expands allocations to public safety and violence prevention programs, affordable housing, quality of life amenities, economic development initiatives, infrastructure needs, and employee acquisition and retention efforts.

While the budget received support from the majority of Council, two representatives did vote against it at its first reading: CMs Moloney and Kloiber. They cited concerns about the city’s ability to sustain funding for employees and programs once the ARPA money is gone. While many allocations went to one-time needs, items like employee wages and new or expanded programs have ongoing costs which some worry may outstrip future resources.

Nevertheless, the FY23 budget passed in its second reading. With a General Services Fund of over $450M it’s the largest city budget Lexington has produced and we will likely be seeing its effects for years to come.