Lexington council puts part of $6.3 million surplus toward street safety

The Lexington council voted on Tuesday to spend approximately $750,000 of a $6.3 million budget surplus on studies and improvements to Lexington streets.

In total, the council voted to use $2.3 million of the surplus, including the street studies, funding a program to help low-income people pay for solar installations and $750,000 toward smaller capital projects across council districts.

The $6,296,172 surplus is from the fiscal year that ended June 30, said Erin Hensley, the city’s finance commissioner, at the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council’s Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday.

The city’s overall surplus was more than $189 million. But much of that was already assigned to other accounts, including $6.5 million for a health insurance reserve fund for employee healthcare costs and $93 million for capital projects, including more than $40 million for a new city government center, Hensley said.

The city automatically sets aside money from any surplus into its economic contingency, or rainy day, fund of approximately $700,000, Hensley said.

The city’s current economic contingency fund is $47.8 million and can only be used under specific circumstances, like a recession that triggers a loss in revenue.

The $6.3 million left to spend is the smallest surplus in years, Hensley said. That’s largely because Mayor Linda Gorton has tasked budget and finance staff with building more accurate budgets, so the city can use money for ongoing expenses rather than have large surpluses at the end of each fiscal year, she said.

Last year’s unallocated surplus was $20 million.

“We have been working to getting our expenses in line and right-sizing our budget,” Hensley said.

That $6.4 million is largely from interest earned in American Rescue Plan Act, or COVID relief funds. The city was awarded $121 million in ARPA funds.

Council sets aside money for street safety, solar and council capital projects

The remaining surplus money will not be assigned to a particular project, and can be designated by the council for other projects in the future, Hensley said.

The council recently released part of the recommendations from its special task force — STREEET, or Shared Travel Requires Engineering Education and Enforcement of Traffic. The group has been meeting for about 10 months to determine ways to make Lexington’s streets safer.

Included in those recommendations were:

• A $365,000 study to determine where five roundabouts can go in the city. Roundabouts help decrease head-on, often deadly crashes, studies have shown.
• $50,000 for a quick build smaller traffic circle study in smaller neighborhood streets.
• $150,000 for a pilot study to determine if changing lights at intersections could make it safer and easier for pedestrians to cross.
• A $20,000 study would be used for a study to determine if signs — such as reminding people not to run red lights — would change behavior.
• Another $115,000 would be used for expanded education and outreach.

The council ultimately voted to pay $750,000 for those street safety improvements and studies.

Another big-ticket item was $750,000 for council capital projects. That would give each of the 15 members of the council $50,000 for projects in their districts, including things like buying benches for parks or paving trails. The council frequently sets aside money from surpluses for capital projects in council districts.

The city has also used $2 million from prior-year surplus funds for Solarize Lexington, a program that helps low-income homeowners install solar on homes. The program was widely popular, and quickly exhausted its funding and currently has a waiting list of 16 people, said Councilwoman Liz Sheehan.

The $460,000 the council approved Tuesday would serve up to 20 homeowners, Sheehan said.

Other projects the council approved Tuesday include:

• $110,000 for permanent improvements to the Loudon Avenue and Bryan Avenue area, including new ramps and sidewalks.
• $20,000 for a new project to document history of endangered neighborhoods. First neighborhood to be part of the pilot project is Smithtown.
• $50,000 to help start a Boys and Girls Club at Winburn Middle School, which will serve both Winburn and Bryan Station Middle School students.
• $50,000 for a Caring Place, a new community program that helps senior remain in their homes and connect with services.
• $50,000 for new laptop computers for the city’s code enforcement officers.
• $55,000 to remove city’s 77 wayfinding signs, which are in disrepair.
• $20,000 to the Black and Williams Center for additional youth programming.

Council delays decision on micro-transit

Councilman Chuck Ellinger had proposed setting aside $475,000 to help pay part of the cost of a micro-transit pilot program for Lextran.

Lextran General Manager Fred Combs said the city helped pay for a prior micro-transit study. Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct-Action, or BUILD, a consortium of churches, has pushed the city to find ways to fund micro-transit, which helps address gaps in the city’s larger public transportation systems.

“We know we have gaps in our services,” Combs said during the Tuesday council work session.

Lextran had proposed starting a pilot micro-transit study in an area between Versailles Road and Newtown Pike. People anywhere in that area could be picked up and taken to other areas within the zone, Combs said. Travelers wanting to leave that area would be dropped off at Lextran bus stops that could take them to other parts of the city, he said.

But the cost would be steep: roughly $55 per passenger per trip to provide the service. Customers would be charged $3 per ride. The total cost of the pilot project was more than $1 million for a year, Combs said. Lextran would have to come up with the remaining money.

Councilwoman Sheehan said there are other pilot micro-transit programs currently operating in Lexington, including one operated by the United Way of the Bluegrass. That program uses Lyft through a national contract, which may be more cost-effective than starting a Lextran micro-transit program.

“It also employs local drivers,” Sheehan said.

Lextran would hire a private contractor, who would then hire drivers, Combs said.

Ultimately, the council voted to delay making a decision on the micro-transit pilot until Nov. 20 in order to hear more about the United Way program and from other cities who have implemented similar programs before making a final decision.

Beth Musgrave

Lexington Herald-Leader

Beth Musgrave has covered government and politics for the Herald-Leader for more than a decade. A graduate of Northwestern University, she has worked as a reporter in Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois and Washington D.C. Support my work with a digital subscription