Lexington council adds money to budget to help people file police complaints

Beth Musgrave
·6 min read

The Lexington council added money Thursday for a new road next to an elementary school, expanded a position to help people file complaints against police and set aside $150,000 for a redesign of Phoenix Park as part of changes to Mayor Linda Gorton’s proposed $398 million spending plan.

In total, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council added a little more than $1 million in spending to Gorton’s budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and added approximately $4.1 million in borrowing or bonding. The council is expected to give the first reading to the budget on June 10. A final vote is scheduled for June 24.

The council met Tuesday and Thursday to vote on changes to the proposed budget.

One key change the council approved Thursday was expanding the hours of the citizen’s advocate to help people file formal and informal complaints with the Lexington Police Department, a key recommendation of Gorton’s Commission for Racial Justice and Equality, which released more than 54 recommendations in October.

Citizens, including those with LPD Accountability, have repeatedly asked for an advocate to help people file complaints against the police department.

It will cost roughly $24,000 to move the citizen’s advocate from 20 hours to 25 hours a week.

Councilwoman Liz Sheehan said she spoke with Gorton’s administration, Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers and the city’s law department about expanding the citizen’s advocate role to help people file complaints.

“There was broad support expressed,” Sheehan said. Sheehan said the police department received six external formal complaints in 2020. That’s why the initial proposal was to increase the citizen’s advocate hours by five hours a week for now.

“We can reassess in six months,” Sheehan said. The citizen’s advocate would not investigate those complaints.

Money for infrastructure for new Head Start, affordable housing

In other significant changes Thursday to Gorton’s budget proposal, Councilman James Brown proposed $750,000 for a connector road, utilities and other improvements adjacent to William Wells Brown Elementary School.

Brown said the Community Action Council, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority and U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, have been in discussions for some time about using land adjacent to William Wells Brown to build a new Head Start and an affordable housing project. Barr has already applied for funding for the project with the federal government, Brown said.

“This request would help kick-start that effort,” Brown said.

Council members expressed support for the project, given that it had so many partners and included early childhood education and affordable housing, key community needs. But some expressed reservations about borrowing money for the project as Brown had originally proposed. Instead, the council agreed to use American Rescue Act money for the project.

The city expects $61 million this year and an additional $61 million next year in American Rescue Act money. The budget proposal now includes $7 million in mostly parks projects from the expected $61 million allocation.

Also on Thursday, the council agreed to use American Rescue Act money to fund a $150,000 design study to re-imagine Phoenix Park, a downtown park in front of the Lexington Public Library on Main Street.

Councilwoman Hannah LeGris, whose district includes Phoenix Park, said the small downtown park is underutilized but because of its location, could be a boon to downtown if it was redesigned.

Parks and Recreation Director Monica Conrad said the city, the library and Anderson Communities, which owns Park Plaza Apartments, have worked together to make the space more inviting for several years. Some of the improvements include a small dog park. But the park could be used to create more play space for children, which is lacking in downtown.

New positions, new fire truck and a police roll call center

Over the past week, the council’s other additions to the budget include:

  • Adding $1.2 million for a new fire ladder truck (could be bonded or paid for through current-year savings).

  • $3 million for a new roll call center for the police department in the East Sector.

  • $66,733 for a currently frozen position in historic preservation.

  • $63,444 for a human resources position.

  • $50,000 to up minority recruitment for public safety.

  • $22,600 to advertise jobs on social media such as Facebook.

  • $75,000 for a tree canopy study.

  • $63,818 for an information technology position for the parks and recreation department.

  • $91,490 for a new planning position.

  • $300,000 for additional workforce development programs.

  • $50,000 for the Lexington History Museum.

  • $91,500 for a new sustainability officer.

  • $14,000 for solar pedestrian crossing signals near Jesse Clark Middle School and Wellington Elementary.

  • $10,000 for new park benches in Shillito Park.

  • $30,000 for a pilot to expand the city’s internal Community Supported Agriculture program from 150 to 300 participants.

  • $9,000 for a pilot home composting program (to come from savings from other city funds besides general fund).

Where the money comes from

Much of the council’s additions this week come from a budget stabilization fund, or a savings account. After all the changes made this week, that account still has $19.6 million in it. In addition, the city is estimating a current-year surplus of around $23 million with two months left in the fiscal year. Another savings account has $41 million in it.

Much of the debate Tuesday and Thursday centered on which funds to use to pay for the new positions and projects.

Councilwoman Amanda Bledsoe, who chairs the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee, reminded the council Tuesday and Thursday that the council can change how the projects are funded in the future. Some of the items that the council decided to bond could be paid for in cash if the city finishes the fiscal year with a surplus, as expected, Bledsoe said.

The $398 million spending plan would be a 5 percent increase over the current-year, bare-bones budget of $379 million. The budget does not include any tax increases. It included funding 30 positions, some new and some previously frozen in the current-year budget. With the council’s additions, the new positions would increase to 34.

In addition, the budget would include spending approximately $3.1 million to give city employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements a 3 percent raise. The last time city employees received a raise was in 2018. The plan also would set aside $14 million for paving, a substantial jump in spending from prior years.

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