Lexington finishes the year with a $3.8 million surplus. Here’s who gets a bonus.

The Lexington council agreed Tuesday to spend a portion of a $3.8 million surplus on a one-time $500 bonus for most city employees, restored some funding to the Explorium children’s museum and divvied up $715,170 to 15 council members to spend on capital projects in their districts.

It also agreed to put $40,000 in savings to potentially fix problems at the Fayette County Detention Center.

Thanks to some mid-year cuts, the city of Lexington finished the fiscal year that ended June 30 with a $3.8 million surplus.

The city socked away some of that money in various savings accounts, which left $2.2 million to spend on one-time projects. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council agreed during an Oct. 29 meeting to use $745,000 of the $2.2 million to pay for a one-time bonus for city employees that was included in the current year budget.

That left $1.4 million for the council to allocate.

On Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to give a second bonus for city employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements. Those bonuses will cost a total of $664,684. Those 1,500 city employees are expected to get the one-time $500 bonus prior to Christmas.

Many on council argued the city was not able to include raises in the current-year budget that started July 1. It was cuts and hiring freezes that created the surplus. That means city employees are doing more but received no raise.

Shortly after taking office in January, Gorton ordered a less than one percent cut for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The city’s revenue growth — the amount it collects in taxes and fees — has slowed compared to prior years. Gorton’s current $379 million budget calls for 15 percent cuts in many departments.

“This money is not extra revenue. It’s based on budget cuts,” said Councilwoman Angela Evans.

Councilman Preston Worley said he supported the one-time bonus but cautioned the council that those bonus payments don’t increase employee base pay.

“This does not affect base pay and it doesn’t affect pensions,” Worley said. “This is the best we can do this year. I hope that in the future we can give a raise.”

The council also voted Tuesday to take $715,170 of the surplus and split it up among the 15 council members for capital projects. That’s $47, 678 for each council member to spend. This is not the first time the council has taken surplus funds and given it to council members to spend.

In 2015 the council voted to divvy up a $4 million surplus, giving each council member $266,666 to spend on projects in their districts.

Councilman Jake Gibbs said council members have not had money to spend on such things as parks equipment and traffic-calming devices in neighborhoods.

“These projects will never make it in the mayor’s budget,” Gibbs said.

Five council members voted against giving surplus funds to council members for unspecified projects.

Evans said revenue projections continue to show poor revenue growth. The city needs to save that money for next fiscal year.

“It’s $700,000 we don’t have to ask for next year,” said Evans. “ This is not our money. This is not new money.”

In addition to Evans, Vice Mayor Steve Kay, Richard Moloney, Amanda Bledsoe and Bill Farmer Jr. voted against the proposal.

Much of the debate during Tuesday’s meeting centered on a request by Mayor Linda Gorton’s administration for $40,000 to address issues at the jail. Roughly $15,000 of the $40,000 would be used for advertising and recruiting to hire more staff at the jail. Roughly $25,000 would be earmarked for a consultant to develop an operations plan with specific changes.

The union that represents jail employees voted ‘no confidence’ in Fayette County Detention Center Executive Director Steve Haney and assistant director Harold Byrne in September.

A no confidence vote is one of the most serious steps the union can take. Union officials say overtime, excessive discipline and unsafe working conditions have led to a drop in morale at the detention center.

Several council members said another study or another consultant is not needed. In 2016, Eastern Kentucky University did a study at the jail and identified several issues.

“It’s not something that this council can fix with any consultant,” said Evans, who led the efforts to oversee the EKU study in 2016. The problems are long-standing, she said.

Other council members argued the city needs to address issues at the jail now. And a consultant could give the city ideas of what has worked in other jails across the country.

“It’s not working,” Moloney said of tweaks the city has made at the jail. “Bring someone from the outside. They are in danger now... Kicking this can down the road is not working.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Mossotti, who chairs the council’s Planning and Public Safety Committee, said she would like jail employees to come to the committee’s January meeting before the council agrees to to spend the $40,000.

“Without their input, I don’t want to throw good money after bad,” Mossotti said.

Public Safety Commissioner Ken Armstrong said a consultant would tell the city what has worked in other cities. The consultant will come up with an operations plan. It will not be a study, he said.

“We are trying to implement changes now,” Armstrong said. “Some have worked. Some of them have not.”

The council ultimately agreed to put $40,000 from the surplus into a savings account. It could allocate the money after hearing from jail employees at the January Planning and Public Safety Committee meeting.

Also Tuesday, the council restored $41,500 of the $75,000 that was cut from the Explorium, the Lexington children’s museum, in the current-year budget. Most outside agencies received a 15 percent spending cut this year.