Revenue growth is expected to come in around a "healthy" 5.6% in Lexington over the next budget cycle. But Gorton says her proposed General Fund budget, which totals nearly $540 million, has an asterisk next to it.
"We all know that grants from the federal government could be at risk. So it's a tight budget," she said.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration sought to freeze grants to cities but backed off within days. Gorton says the city has identified the federal dollars that could be affected, and there's no indication for now that they have been cut.
City costs, however, are also increasing faster than revenue. Add to the mix the end of federal COVID dollars, the effect of ever-shifting tariffs, and a volatile economic picture, and the result is a budget the mayor says is balanced but also includes "strategic belt-tightening."
Still, the mayor says a new tax will enable a roughly $8 million investment in parks, and she also wants to boost funding for cold weather events to a record $3.4 million.
"It's quite an increase," Gorton acknowledged. "We based it on this year's snow events and ice event."
The budget calls for 44 new police cruisers, a new fire training center, and a new cybersecurity position meant to lay the groundwork for leveraging artificial intelligence for the first time. Also on the list: improvements for recycling, a continuing solar farm study, and a new encampment coordinator meant to direct people experiencing homelessness to housing services.
Under the proposal, non-sworn city employees would also receive a 3% raise.
While skeptical that any city can fully prepare for what funding policies might emerge from the Trump administration, District Four's Emma Curtis found some encouraging items in Gorton's spending plan.
"I was very pleased to see the focus on pedestrian safety, on improved streets and roads, and, on improving our winter weather response," the councilmember told WUKY. "Those are issues that my constituents raised to me the second I got into office."
Curtis also left a little concerned about a new position that's meant to set the stage for the possible incorporation of AI into city government.
"It's a technology that hasn't developed and matured in a way that we can implement it safely for government use at this point," Curtis said.
While Gorton said the ultimate goal is to investigate how AI might be useful for city operations, the mayor said any moves in that direction also increase the risk of cyberattacks. So the budget starts by calling for the creation of an "Information Security Engineer" post, which would focus on emerging threats.
Now it's the Urban County Council's turn to sift through the budget and make any desired changes.
Once approved, it would take effect July 1.