More road paving and homeless outreach: How Metro Council may tweak Louisville's budget
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Metro Council Budget Committee unanimously approved changes Tuesday to Mayor Greg Fischer's 2023 spending plan, including more money for road repaving, parks and homelessness outreach while maintaining the mayor's funding request for police, fire and violence prevention agencies.
Fischer, a Democrat in his 12th and final year in office, had put forward a $1.3 billion budget proposal this spring featuring $715 million in general fund money and $343 million in capital spending.
The mayor acknowledged that wages and personnel costs, driven in part by inflation and record city staff vacancies, played a factor in his budget, with the Office of Management and Budget later sharing projections showing Louisville could potentially face a $70 million deficit in 2024 and a $109 million gap by 2025.
Fischer's budget plan includes $10 million from the city's contingency fund and $15 million to cover future budget shortfalls.
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In response, the 11-member Budget Committee signed off on changes Tuesday that reduce the proposed number of new city positions (three Enterprise Resource Planning jobs), defer local matches for federal infrastructure projects that have not yet materialized and halt some "non-essential" spending.
That spending would get deferred until December, when council members will have better projections on revenue and expenses.
Budget Committee chair Bill Hollander, D-9th District, who is also serving his final year in office, said Tuesday the changes include some "significant investments" and the council used "prudent fiscal management." Budget Committee vice chair Kevin Kramer, R-11th, highlighted the effort to chip away at deferred maintenance.
Metro Councilman Anthony Piagentini, R-19th, said he supported the changes, particularly around asking the mayor's administration to exercise caution around spending, but added the city must continue to stay disciplined amid "very precarious" and "funky financial times."
Since Fischer unveiled his final budget proposal as mayor, Metro Council has held more than three dozen hours of hearings and public comment sessions.
The full, 26-member council that includes 19 Democrats and seven Republicans will vote Thursday on the fiscal 2023 capital and operating budgets during a meeting that begins at 6 p.m.
The new fiscal year begins July 1 and runs until June 30, 2023.
Council members also made no additional borrowing request and closed old capital accounts for completed projects while requesting the city continue to identify more accounts to close when possible in order to save money.
Here is a rundown of some of the major budget changes the Metro Council committee approved Tuesday and what they left untouched. More minor and technical tweaks included slight fixes to budget lines and the removal of roughly $2.3 million in lapsed projects.
More cash for roads, alleys and sidewalks
While Fischer's budget proposal includes $22 million to pave roads and repair sidewalks, some Metro Council members felt that was not enough.
Their amended budget would give over $30 million for road repaving, with members calling that a "record" level for road repairs.
Metro Council members also set aside $1 million for a new "alley restoration plan" they called "the first significant investment in alley repaving in decades."
Additional money will also cover a turn lane on Herr Lane at Westport Road, traffic lights on Aiken Road and a continuation of Brentlinger Lane.
"Traffic calming efforts," which include things like speed bumps to slow down vehicles and protect pedestrians, throughout the city get $500,000, according to Metro Council members.
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Metro Council members also said their proposal has $3 million for sidewalk repairs spread across all 26 districts, including $1 million in federal Community Project Funding.
New sidewalk construction on McCawley Road in south-central Louisville also gets $560,000.
In terms of other infrastructure, Metro Council members noted that enough money may be available from previous appropriations for relocating and restoring the downtown King Louis XVI statue that was removed in 2020 after it was vandalized amid racial justice demonstrations. Develop Louisville will give a presentation to the council's Community Affairs,, Housing and Education Committee by the end of September on using funds to restore and relocate the statue, according to council members.
Money for Louisville parks
Parks all over Jefferson County received additional appropriations under the amendments put forward by Metro Council members. They include:
$1 million for Jefferson Memorial Forest (which also is getting a recently-announced $200,000 federal grant for improvements to its Tom Wallace Recreation Area)
$1 million for Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing
$350,000 to replace the Iroquois Amphitheater roof
$330,000 for infrastructure near the new Maple Street Park in west Louisville
$300,000 for continued improvements to Charlie Vettiner Park
$100,000 for Nelson Hornbeck Park
Outreach for the homeless
Metro Council members added $1 million to expand Goodwill's Another Way program countywide.
The program, which had $279,000 in Fischer's plan, started as a pilot in 2021 and offers unhoused residents in high-traffic areas the chance to get off the streets and work while receiving a stipend and access to Goodwill's services.
The amended budget also includes $100,000 for more homeless outreach in downtown Louisville and $220,000 for outreach in underserved areas, particularly those outside the Watterson Expressway.
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Bumping up book purchases
$200,000 in additional funding will help purchase more books and e-books for the city's library system.
The council also approved a fourth round of American Rescue Plan funding earlier in June that includes money to resume Louisville Free Public Library services in Fern Creek and Parkland and renovate the Portland and Main branches.
Mental health resources for Metro Corrections
A Metro Council amendment includes $150,000 for additional "mental health resources" at Louisville's jail, with members noting the mayor's budget already includes additional improvements for Metro Corrections.
Acknowledging the string of deaths that started last November and issues at the city's jail, Fischer's plan gives Metro Corrections a budget of roughly $57 million, a slight increase from its current budget of almost $55 million.
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Metro Corrections also would receive $3.7 million in capital investments under Fischer's budget, including an expansion of camera systems, monitoring equipment for observations of high-risk inmates and more body scanners at entrances.
What stayed in both budget proposals?
Apart from the jail, the Metro Council is sticking with Fischer on funding for Louisville Metro Police, Louisville Fire, Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods and Emergency Services, among other agencies.
If the full council approves the budget Thursday without further changes, then LMPD will get a budget of roughly $210.5 million, a $25 million boost over the department's roughly $185 million budget in the current year.
Included is funding for three recruit classes as part of a plan to reach 1,200 officers by the end of fiscal year 2025, and $6 million is set aside for land acquisition and design of a new LMPD training facility.
The Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, under Fischer's budget, would get about $4.5 million, and council members noted that would be a record level for an agency that saw its budget slashed amid 2019 cuts that preceded record-setting years for homicides.
Metro Council members also maintained funding for Evolve502 (with the council requesting the scholarship program research possible expansion to serve all Louisville students, not only JCPS students), Dare to Care's new distribution center, Phase IV of Waterfront Park, the Louisville Zoo's Kentucky Trails exhibit and the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville 2023 budget: Metro Council amends Mayor Greg Fischer's plan
