Mayor Gorton will present her proposed FY26 budget tomorrow

This Tuesday at 3pm, Mayor Linda Gorton will present her proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025/2026 (FY25/26) during her annual Budget Address.

We don’t know much about what will be in this budget, but in a Joint Budget Retreat in February held with the Mayor and the Council, Mayor Gorton shared a few details on her priorities:

• Support for a new Government Center. The City is reviewing proposals from private developers for a new Government Center. None of those proposals are currently public.

• Funding for the design of a new Firefighter Training Facility. The new facility will be constructed on the site of the current facility, which is located off of Old Frankfort Pike.

• An across-the-board pay raise for non-sworn LFUCG employees. Gorton has not shared how much of a raise will be given.

Something else to look for is how the uncertainty surrounding federal funding will affect the City budget. The Trump Administration’s cancellation of federal funding for numerous organizations, programs, grants, and more across the whole of federal government — and ongoing lawsuits attempting to restore federal money across the country — could impact the city in numerous ways. Federal funding is often provided to support housing support initiatives, social services, capital purchases like firetrucks, and many other regular operations of LFUCG. It is unclear if or how recent Trump Administration decisions will impact the upcoming budget.

In the coming weeks, Council will meet in small groups called Links —  committees composed of three Councilmembers that focus on different aspects of the budget — to revise and amend portions of the budget. Then, Council will bring the Link recommendations together and deliberate on the budget as a full body before final approval. The FY25/26 Budget is scheduled to be adopted by June 12th, 2025. You can read about the Council’s budget priorities here.

Want to weigh in on the FY26 budget? Council has a page for that here.

Once the Mayor’s budget is released, CivicLex will get to work creating our annual Budget Guide to help residents understand what’s in this year’s budget. We’ll also host programming, cover Link meetings, and keep Lexingtonians up to date on every aspect of the budgeting process!

You can learn more about the Budget process here!

The Mayor’s Budget Address will be held on Tuesday, April 15th at 3pm. You can attend in-person or watch live on LexTV.