Should $45,000 be allocated to Lexington council for more travel? One member says no
Editor’s Note: The Lexington council approved the appropriation on March 17. Council members Chuck Ellinger and Richard Moloney voted against the allocation. Those who voted in favor: James Brown, Fred Brown, Whitney Elliott Baxter, Hannah LeGris, Liz Sheehan, Susan Lamb, Josh McCurn, Steve Kay, Jennifer Reynolds and Preston Worley.
The Lexington council is poised to approve $45,000 to help pay for council members’ travel for a Commerce Lexington trip to Florida in May.
Each member of the 15-member council is allocated $2,145 a year for travel expenses. That money is typically spent on a Commerce Lexington sponsored trip to another city. On those trips, council members learn more about how other cities deal with downtown parking, economic development, homelessness and other issues.
The 2020 trip was canceled due to the coronavirus.
Typically the council only takes one Commerce Lexington trip during its fiscal year which begins July 1 and ends June 30.
This year there are two trips due to the coronavirus — one that was originally scheduled for May 2021 but was delayed to November due to the coronavirus. The second trip is now in May to Florida.
“We are budgeted for one trip a year,” said Councilman Richard Moloney. “I just don’t think it sends a good message to go on two trips. It’s just not the right time.”
The $45,000 comes from savings the city realized when it bonded or borrowed money in February. The city had budgeted for an interest rate of 2.25% but the interest rate it received was lower — 2%. That generated $1.6 million in savings the city had expected to spend on debt payments.
The city has proposed using the $1.6 million to fund a host of projects in addition to the $45,000 for council travel, including: $500,000 for an affordable housing projects, $466,355 for road salt, $17,000 for security upgrades at the Audrey Grevious Center, a youth education center, and $40,000 for a van for One Lexington, the city’s youth violence prevention program.
The city has projected a current-year surplus of more than $25 million. That savings has been generated in part due to one-time federal coronavirus stimulus money the city has been able to use to pay for services and projects that would normally come from the general fund, or the city’s main checking account.
Moloney said although the city’s accounts look flush now, he’s worried about future needs.
“We have a jail that’s in trouble,” Moloney said, referring to ongoing staff shortages at the Fayette County Detention Center. “We have inflation. The cost of gas is going up.”
The city also has to pay more for trash disposal. A Waste Services of the Bluegrass landfill in Scott County where Lexington trash has been dumped since 2015 was closed in November. The city’s trash now goes to a landfill in Morehead.
Hauling trash farther also costs the city additional money. Roughly $800,000 of the $1.6 million in savings will go toward paying additional costs for trash pick up, according to city documents and city officials.
What happens next?
During a March 1 council work session, Moloney tried to separate the $45,000 allotment to the council from the $1.6 million so the council could vote on the allocation in a separate motion.
The motion died by a voice vote — Moloney was the only one to vote in favor.
The council gave the ordinance that would allocate the $1.6 million a first reading on Thursday. It will get final vote on March 17.
Under the proposal, each council member will get an additional $3,750. The trip is estimated to cost around $3,000 for two days, according to city officials. The Austin, Texas, trip cost $2,800. Eight council members attended that trip.
Not all council members attend the Commerce Lexington annual trips. Vice Mayor Steve Kay has not attended any of the Commerce Lexington trips since he took office in 2010. Some, such as Councilman David Kloiber, use their own money to pay for the trip.
It’s not clear how many will attend the May trip. The registration is still open.
Council members that don’t attend the May Commerce Lexington trip can use that money in other ways, Moloney said. For example, council members can transfer excess funds to neighborhood development funds — funds that go to home owner or neighborhood associations for capital projects, parent teacher associations or nonprofits in the council member’s district.
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 11:02 AM.
