# Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee - January 27, 2015 > Auto-transcribed civic record · January 27, 2015 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/3572 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/3572?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2015-01-27 - **Last revised**: July 15, 2026 - **Length**: 5,683 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Budget, Finance & Economic Development Committee met on January 27, 2015, at 1:00 p.m., with Councilmember Ellinger presiding. Committee members in attendance included Bledsoe, Brown, Farmer, Ford, Kay, Lane, and Moloney. The committee addressed four agenda items during the meeting, which included the election of a committee chair, appointment of a vice chair, a presentation on monthly financials, and a review of committee referrals. The meeting included seven motions and votes, one presentation, and six public comments from members of the public. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the meeting on January 27, 2015: * Bledsoe * Brown * Farmer * Ford * Kay * Lane * Moloney * Mossotti * Scutchfield * Stinnett No absences or late arrivals were recorded. ## Votes and Decisions The meeting included seven votes, all of which passed. **Approval of November 18 Budget Committee of the Whole Meeting Summary** [timestamp: 0:03:00] A voice vote was called to approve the summary of the November 18 Budget Committee of the Whole meeting. The motion was made by Scutchfield and seconded by Farmer. The motion passed. **Expanded Wellness Center Concept** [timestamp: 0:03:00] A unanimous vote was taken on a motion to direct the Administration to draft and circulate the expanded wellness center concept. The motion was made by Stinnett and seconded by Myers. The motion passed unanimously. **Removal of AOC Reimbursement Policy from Committee Referral List** [timestamp: 0:03:00] A unanimous vote was taken on a motion to remove the "AOC Reimbursement Policy" item from the Committee referral list. The motion was made by Gorton and seconded by Scutchfield. The motion passed unanimously. **Removal of Lyric Financial Audit from Committee Agenda** [timestamp: 0:27:58] A voice vote was called to remove the Lyric Financial Audit from the committee agenda. The motion was made by Vice Mayor Kay. The motion passed. **Removal of Collaboration Strategy Among Economic Development Partner Agencies from Committee Agenda** [timestamp: 0:31:40] A voice vote was called to remove the Collaboration Strategy Among Economic Development Partner Agencies from the committee agenda. The motion was made by Ford and seconded by Scutchfield. The motion passed. **Removal of DDA 10-Year Development Plan from Committee Agenda** [timestamp: 0:33:53] A voice vote was called to remove the DDA 10-year development plan from the committee agenda. The motion was made by Ford and seconded by Brown. The motion passed. **Adjournment** [timestamp: 0:34:50] A voice vote was called to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting addressed two financial matters: **Wellness Center Expansion** The board requested information and proposals for an expanded wellness center concept at the current clinic location. This initiative is budgeted at $8,350 per month. **Court Fee Surcharge Amendment** The board considered an amendment to implement a surcharge on court fees. This surcharge would be designated to recover maintenance and capital replacement expenses. No specific dollar amount was identified for this amendment in the meeting materials. ## Public Comment Several council members raised questions and concerns during the meeting regarding employment trends, budget variances, and financial oversight. **Employment and Unemployment Trends** Councilman Massadi inquired about the causes behind the declining unemployment rate [timestamp: 0:06:47], asking whether the improvement resulted from people re-entering the job market or withdrawing from job searches. He also noted that earnings have remained flat despite the lower unemployment figures. Councilmember Lane emphasized the importance of tracking employment numbers rather than focusing solely on the unemployment rate [timestamp: 0:08:51]. He highlighted a 4,400 increase in employment in Fayette County between June 2013 and June 2014. **Budget and Financial Concerns** Councilmember Brown requested additional details on a $955,000 variance in other income [timestamp: 0:16:33], specifically regarding $224,000 in penalties and interest. He asked whether this variance represents a one-time occurrence or an ongoing trend. Councilmember Maloney expressed concern about the high surplus recorded in the first six months of the budget period [timestamp: 0:21:32]. He questioned whether this surplus would continue into the second half of the year, noting that personnel expenses and weather patterns could impact future projections. **Financial Transparency and Oversight** Councilmember Farmer suggested implementing monthly tracking of the rainy day fund balance and recommended including this information in the financial packet distributed to council members [timestamp: 0:24:15]. This proposal aimed to improve transparency in economic contingency fund management. Councilmember Brown also raised a question about audit procedures for outside agencies [timestamp: 0:28:33], specifically asking whether the Lyric Theater audit should be presented to the committee. He noted that other outside agencies are required to submit audits when applying for funding. ## Appointments Stinnett was appointed to the Solid Waste Expenditure body. ## Contested Items **Lyric Theater Audit Requirement** Councilmember Brown raised a procedural question regarding the inclusion of a Lyric Theater audit on the committee agenda. Brown questioned the rationale for requiring an audit from the Lyric Theater when other outside agencies are not subject to the same audit requirement. This procedural dispute centered on whether the audit should be considered by the committee at all. The matter was resolved through a vote to remove the item from the agenda. **Economic Contingency Fund Transparency** Councilmember Farmer advocated for increased transparency regarding the economic contingency fund, specifically proposing that the rainy day fund balance be included in monthly reports. While no formal opposition was voiced during the discussion, this item was identified as an area warranting future attention and improvement. The proposal highlighted a potential gap in current reporting practices and was noted for consideration in subsequent meetings. ## Election of Committee Chair Councilmember Ellinger called the meeting to order. No discussion or vote was recorded regarding the election of Committee Chair during this agenda item. ## Appointment of Vice Chair No discussion or vote was recorded on the appointment of Vice Chair during this meeting. The item appeared on the agenda but did not proceed to substantive deliberation or a formal decision. ## Presentation: Monthly Financials Commissioner Bill O'Mara presented the monthly financials for the period, highlighting key performance metrics [0:03:00]. The presentation reported a 3% revenue increase and a 6% favorable expense variance year-to-date. The discussion that followed focused on several financial trends and concerns: * **Revenue and Expense Performance**: The favorable expense variance of 6% year-to-date was noted as a positive indicator of cost management. * **Unemployment Trends**: Participants discussed current unemployment trends and their potential impact on the organization's financial outlook. * **Flat Earnings**: The discussion addressed concerns about flat earnings, which may constrain future revenue growth. * **Surplus Sustainability**: A key topic of debate centered on the sustainability of the current surplus, raising questions about whether the favorable financial position could be maintained going forward. Key speakers in this discussion included Commissioner Bill O'Mara, who presented the financials, along with Rusty Cook and Melissa Luker, who participated in the subsequent discussion. The agenda item was classified as informational in nature, with no specific action items or decisions required as an outcome of the presentation. ## Committee Referrals The committee reviewed and voted on several referrals during this portion of the meeting [timestamp: 00:25:18]. **Actions Taken** The committee removed the following items from the agenda: - Lyric Financial Audit - Collaboration Strategy - DDA 10-year plan The Wellness Center RFP was retained for spring review rather than being removed from consideration. **Key Participants** The discussion involved Vice Mayor Kay, Ford, Scutchfield, Brown, and Maloney. **Outcome** The referrals were handled as an informational matter, with the committee's votes resulting in the removal of three items while preserving the Wellness Center RFP for future spring review. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed: Approval of the summary of the November 18 Budget Committee of the Whole meeting - **Motion** — passed: Motion to direct the Administration to draft and circulate the expanded wellness center concept - **Motion** — passed: Motion to remove the 'AOC Reimbursement Policy' item from the Committee referral list - **Motion** — passed: Motion to remove the Lyric Financial Audit from the committee agenda - **Motion** — passed: Motion to remove the Collaboration Strategy Among Economic Development Partner Agencies from committee agenda - **Motion** — passed: Motion to remove the DDA 10-year development plan from committee agenda - **Motion** — passed: Motion to adjourn the meeting --- ## Full transcript . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. On page three of our packet, at the very top, it'll say it starts with Baradarian. Also stated that Lexington can assess a surcharge on all court fees. That should be we do already assess a surcharge on all court fees. So it's something we're already doing now. So that one minor correction. Other than that, do I have a motion to approve the summary? So moved. Motion and a second. Any other corrections, deletions, discussion? All right. Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you. That passes. Next up on our agenda is the presentation of our monthly financials. Commissioner O'Mara, welcome to the podium. Bring us the good news. Thank you, Chair. Well, we do have some good news with some hesitations, but it's as we always do, and I think you can predict. But the format is the standard. We give you an update for both the current month as well as year-to-date compared to budget, as well as the same time last year. I started out with some of the economics, and then Rusty Cook from Revenue talks about the largest revenues, and then Melissa Luker from Budgeting rounds out the presentation. So the first is some of that good news we were talking about. We plot both the Kentucky unemployment, the U.S. unemployment, the Lexington metropolitan area unemployment, and then Fayette County alone. And the good news is that Fayette County is going down and is lowest of those. For Kentucky, in October it was 6.2%, and it dropped in November to 6%. For the U.S. as a whole, in October it was 5.8, and in November it stayed at 5.8. We do have Decembers for that one line only, and it dropped to 5.6% for December. For the Lexington MSA, October was 4.5, and then it reached up to 4.9 in November. but the good news for today is Lexington was at 4.4 for October and stayed at 4.4% unemployment for the month of November. This is getting down to pre-recession levels of unemployment, and so the question is whether we can continue that trend, and we'll be releasing that information to you as we receive it. The next month is the same graph, but looking at a three-month rolling average, just trying to make sure that those trends are there so that when you have up and down blips, they're kind of flattened out. Again, it gives the same results that we presented to you there in the first graph. The following is just some of selected economic indicators that we tracked. The first one we already went over, the unemployment rate for Fayette County. The next is the employment rate, and that's a great number, but unfortunately we get it from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it has a long late time before they publish. So the most recent we have is 184,700 employed people in Fayette County for June, and we're looking for the October to be released, I think, at the end of this month. Then we look at Fayette County permits and county business license, and they are a little less than the same time last year for both November and December. But then we go to home sales, and those are trending up for December. And then the last one we always want to trend down, and that is foreclosures. We have a very favorable foreclosure rate this month versus the same month of last year. So questions on that section of our presentation? Councilman, if there's any questions, just log in and we'll go at it one by one. Anybody? Okay. I do have one myself. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you down there. It didn't pop up. Councilman Massadi. Thank you, Chair. I appreciate it. Thanks, Bill, for the information. Just curious on the unemployment. I know people say the reason why the unemployment's gone down is because there's other factors, other variables. People are going back to school. People have stopped looking for jobs. Would you agree with that sentiment? Well, I don't have statistics to support it, but I think there is validity to some of that. Of course, when you come out of a recession, unemployment goes up because more people come in that were discouraged, that weren't looking, decide to come back into and look for jobs. So it's very common for after the technical recession is over, the unemployment rate actually rises because people are no longer discouraged. They're hearing there are jobs, and they enter back into the job market. We saw that last year. Now we're seeing several months of trending lower job, and so whether people permanently left and decided not to come back or are in their retraining is a very valid question to ask. The other is people have two jobs to make the same amount that they used to for one. So there's a lot of that shift. And as we know on the national scale, we don't have the information for Fayette County readily available, but overall earnings are flat. They haven't been growing year over year. Even though more people are working, the basic earning power is pretty flat over the last several years. So when that earning power starts to go up, that's good for those people with the jobs. then you start worrying about inflation and whether that is true purchasing power or just inflationary pressure. So lots of things moving there, and all of them have an impact on the final number. Thank you. Councilmember Lane. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to add a thought here, is that the unemployment rate is not as important as the amount of people that are employed. And although those are lagging data, you can see that in June of 2013 on this report, there was about 180,300 people working in Fayette County. And this June, I guess that was June of 2014, it was 184,700. So we had about 4,400 more people working in the county. and that's about 3% of the workforce that it increased from year to year. So if that trend continues, that means we'll have more and more people working. Thank you, Council Member Lane. Anyone else? I did have one question. The information you're gathering is from the Department of Labor. Do they also have any wage data that you could share with us monthly, like the average wage in Fed County, that sort of thing, and those rising peaks? because one thing I did notice, you know, our incomes haven't risen with the unemployment rate dropping. So I think it's a telltale sign as we are focused on jobs and economic development. Is there any information you think you could put together and include that? We will look at that. I'm not familiar enough with all the different ones, but I know there is data. Okay. Whether it's for Fayette County is my hesitation. Okay, I understand. So we'll see. Okay, very good. Thank you. All right. Thank you all very much. Welcome. Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon, everyone. As Commissioner Romero said, I'll go over the top four revenues in the general fund. The first slide we're looking at is just the December-only month-to-date budget. We were $1 million below budget in the month of December only. So let's look at year-to-date to see where we are to get a trend on the first half of the year. Through the first half of the year, we're up $1.4 million over budget. Three of the four categories are up. Employee withholding is down $1.6 million. That's what we're watching to the point that Kevin made. We're seeing that number down, yet unemployment is down low, so we're watching that to see what's going on within that. Net profit is $400,000 above budget this year. Insurance is up $800,000 over budget. And franchise fees is $1.8 million ahead of budget. And I want to point out on that, when we do the monthly budget for franchise fees, really for the folks who haven't been here, we look at historical numbers to create our budget by month. And the actuals for a couple utilities have come in a lot stronger through the first half of the year compared to what our historical numbers are, which is why the budget is so high. Of course, in January, February, March, we would have higher budget numbers based on the winter last year being a pretty rough winter. This next slide is the December year-to-date current year compared to December year-to-date prior year. As you can see, we're up 5.3 percent or $6 million over prior year, which is good growth. The employee withholding is actually up 3.3 percent ahead of prior year at $2.7 million. Net profit is up $800,000 versus last year. And I will point out on that that this year our net profit refunds requests are down. So last year's number is a little bit lower because of higher refunds last year. And for those that don't understand what that is, that is when a business makes quarterly estimates throughout the year, and then when they file their net profit return at the end of the year, if they've overestimated, they can request a refund. And sometimes that will happen the same year of the estimates where it may happen one or two years later. Insurance is up $740,000, and what I'm seeing in that is it's over three policies, which is life, fire, and the odd one is Marine is up as well through the first half, first six months. And then as you can see, franchise fees is up $1.7 million versus prior year. The last slide is included in here just for information purposes. At this time, are there any questions on the top four revenues? Melissa will take over now and go over other revenues as well as expenses. Thanks. Good afternoon. Rusty's talked about the top four on this page, so I'll skip down to other licenses and permits. We have a positive variance there of $465,000. That's due primarily to the bank franchise fees. The ad valorem, our positive variance there is related to realty and personalty taxes. The next category is services, and I just want to explain a little bit about that category because there are several things that go into that revenue. We have detention center fees, building permits, park collection, so any of the programs that parks has, and EMS fees and some various other small fees. So that's kind of a catch-all, but the variance of 477 can be attributed to detention center fees. We're tracking ahead of budget on that so far this year. We're right at budget on fines and forfeitures. Property sale, that variance is due to a sale of surplus equipment. So that's something that's a little hard to budget for because we don't know what we're going to sell during the year. So that's why we've got a variance there. Our governmental is down just a little bit, but basically right close to budget. Investment income, that's the cost to market, the fair value of our CDs and bonds. It's an accounting entry that we have to make. And then the other income is due to penalties and interest and miscellaneous revenue, which can be attributed to electronic monitoring and drug test fees. So that's what's driving that $955,000 variance there. Now to the expense side, we have a favorable variance year to date of $4 million in personnel. I just want to stress that our personnel expenses aren't evenly throughout the year. We have much higher expenses in the second six months of the year than we do the first six months of the year. So we'll get a clearer picture probably in our February meeting as to where we stand with personnel. So I just want to point that out. Operating, we've got a variance right now of $3.6 million. It's in our professional services, our repairs and maintenance accounts, utilities, just general office supplies. The debt service variance and the partner agency variance, that's just the timing of when we have the budget broken out versus whenever payments were made. And then operating capital expenditures were a little ahead of budget there, and that's because people are making their capital purchases earlier in the year than what we had spread out for our monthly spread. If you take the expenses and the revenues into consideration, we're at a positive variance of $12.2 million for the first six months of the year. The next two slides show the current year versus prior year. So you can see we have a variance of $6.8 million over the prior year. You know, our budget is higher than last year, so that makes sense. While we're expecting higher revenues, so this slide just shows that they're coming in. And then if you look at expense side, we're about $3 million more than we were last year spent. So once again, our budget's higher, so it makes sense that we would be spending more than last year. Are there any questions? We've got one Council Member signed up. Council Member Brown. Yes, a couple quick questions. One on the, go back to the revenue, cash flow, variance, revenue. Okay. I need a little bit more detail. I'd like to have a little bit more detail on that other income. It really doubled the actual over the budget. Can you give me a little bit more insight into that particular line item? I sure can. $224,000 of that is due to penalties and interest that we've collected more than what we had anticipated. Pardon if I interrupt you, but when you say penalties and interest went up $200,000 in a six-month period? Yes. What's that attributed to? What type of penalties and interest? Let me get back to you on the specifics because this has the roll-up and I don't have the specifics. on here, but I can get that for you. I'll send it to you. And is this a trend that's happening now and for the next six months? I'm cautious to say that the six months is going to be an indicator of what the next six months are going to be at this time. It's still a little early in the fiscal year to kind of project out, I think. That's just such a large increase, and I didn't know if it was just a one-time situation. And it could be. I need to get further into the data to see. And then the $705,000 is miscellaneous income of it. And so $146,000 of that is electronic monitoring fees are up. And then $95,000 of that is drug test fees. And then the other is just small, various accounts. And if you want the detail on that, I can get that for you as well. Now, when you're talking about those fees there, did we raise fees the past year that would indicate an increase? Or is that just an increase in volume? I'm not sure that we necessarily raised the fees, but I do know with the electronic monitoring, there was a House bill that changed. It was kind of keeping people out of prisons and putting more people on electronic monitoring. So I think some of that could be attributed to that House bill that was passed. I think it was in 2013 when it was passed. So it would have taken effect last year. And thank you. And flip over to the cash flow variance expense schedule. When I'm looking at this, let's see, which one did I? The operating capital expenditures, that was quite an increase in expenditures there of $242,000. Is that a continuous type of thing or one-time? No, this is a one-time thing. This is just, I believe we spread the monthly spread evenly throughout 12 months, and people are just making the purchases. For example, we have $90,000 for computer leases, so we just made that purchase at the beginning of the fiscal year. So there's $90,000 that was probably spread out over the 12 months that we went ahead and purchased. So these are just one-time differences. So you'll see this true up as the months go on. Okay, that was a point. And then back to the, it's not on here, and I didn't do a quick calculation, but back to the cash flow variance revenue. Actual versus budget is 154 over 150. What percentage is that? Have you got it there? I do not. Anybody got a real quick math mind? Actually, I do have it here. Hold on just one second. Percentage increase there for the six months. Well, so I've got it, and it is. It's almost $4 million there. It's 3%. Huh? 3%. Okay. And then over on the expense side, the same thing, on the total expense of $7,008,000 variance on that, favorable. What percentage is that? Do you have that? It's 6%. Okay. And the reason I'm asking this is that, if I'm not mistaken, when we get into the budget season, we're really looking at this first six months as our guideline. Is that not correct for us to go into the budget year and say what we envision, that the increase will be in revenues and what we might save in expenditures, and you weigh those two together to see what type of what our budget numbers are? We do to some extent, but we also on our budget forms that went out last week to the divisions, we also have FY14 actuals on there. So we see the prior year as well. So we use that as an indicator too. So we have a full year, and then we have the first six months. So looking at this right here, I get a positive response that the revenues are up a little bit in that six-month period as compared to the previous year, and expenses are down compared. Is that correct? That's where we stand right now. Okay. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you, Councilman Brown. Councilman Maloney. Yes, I'd like to look at page 10. Okay. A lot of change in net position, the bottom, that's for six months. We're at $12 million for six months. Yes. So if we keep this page, we could be $24 million surplus. If we kept this pace, but I don't believe we will keep this pace. Why would you not say that they keep that pace? Well, like I said, our personnel expenses, the last six months have higher expenses than the first six months. We have our sick checks that come out in January. We have payouts for police and fire. A lot of those retirements take place in January. So I think our personnel variance is going to get a little closer to budget. And then, you know, we've been fortunate with a mild winter so far, and gas prices have been low. So I'd be hesitant to say that you could double that and get our variance at the end of the year at this point in time. Has there ever been a time that the first six months this high and the last six months, I always thought the last six months was when the jobs started coming around, people are back working, and the weather changed, the houses go for sale. I thought that was a better – the last six months seemed to be a lot better than the first six months. I thought that was always the part. But is – do you – has there ever been a time we've had this much surplus in six months? I'll have to look, but I do know – I pulled last year's, and last year at this time we were $7.8 million ahead. And then what did we end up with last year? I'd have to go back and check. Huh? I need to go back and check that. Well, the reason why I asked, if you had seven, eight this time last year, and then what did we finish up the last four or five, I mean, six months? I'll check into that and go back to you. To me, if you're averaging it out, it seems like we'll be on a similar path than we were last year. I think the economy is a lot better this year than last year was great, but I think from what the mayor says, we're moving away. I'm just concerned if we're going to have that kind of surplus every year. it's just, that's a lot of money. I just want to be sure we budget it right so we don't have to, I don't like to see that kind of surplus. I want to be sure we spend it wisely. And I know it's a good feeling to have, but I just want to be sure we're consistent every year that we don't have this kind of surplus. Councilmember Farmer. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Congratulations on your chairmanship. Thank you, sir. And for running the meeting so well, we'll have time to have lunch. I just wanted to do a little background. And it may be not really part of what we're talking about right now, but one of the things I think we might be wise to always keep an eye on is the funds that we commit to the economic contingency, the rainy day fund, because we make deposits of that monthly, do we not? Yes, we do. And then at the end of the budget time, sometimes we add more to that based on ordinance. And I just think if we're looking at all the other funds here, it might be wise to know what's in there and what's attributed to it as we go forward. It might just be a separate sheet in here, or it could be something that's delivered separately. But since it builds up every month and then we make additional deposits to it, I just think we should have a little temperature of it. That's all. As part of this packet when we do these once a month. I think that can definitely be arranged and put it in here. We had it in there years ago, our fund balances. Yeah. And then we had the EQ and different, we parted it out. So it is gone now. So we can get that back. I think it's just something, it's an asset, and we add to it continually. I just think we should just keep it in mind, that's all. Very good idea. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else on the monthly financials? All right, CNN. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you. Thank you, Rusty. Next up on our agenda are referrals to committee. We'll briefly run through this list, if that's okay with everyone. It's on your last page, page 17. First up is the Waste Management Task Force. We'll look at reconvening that here shortly now that we have a new council in seat. And I believe we have a vacancy or two. And if there's anyone interested in serving on that as well, just please let us know. And I'll forward it to the vice mayor for appointment. The next item on the referral sheet is activity cost-based accounting. Councilman Elaine, are we still active on this issue? and is there a time frame when you'd like to have it before the committee? Well, I did speak to our chief financial officer and our chief information officer and our CAO, and they all say we're going to be working on better cost accounting, so I think that will be an issue that will be coming forward in the near future. Do you want to leave the committee at this time? Yes, sir, I will. Bring it back. Leave it here. Okay, unless there's any disagreement, we'll leave it here for now. Next is the Wellness Center and lease. This is actually an RFP that is going out here shortly, and we'll have this back before the committee, hopefully sometime here in the spring. The next up is the Lyric Financial Audit. This is not assigned to anyone, but customer forward, do you want to address that? Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is the Lyric Board met last week, and they have completed their first independent audit, and it has come back with favorable findings, no negative findings. So that is complete. The question I would have or pose to the committee is the expectation of the Lyric Board. In addition, the Lyric is going to be presenting at the General Government Committee next Tuesday on its strategic plan, which was another link recommendation. So the question I would pose to the audit's done, do we expect the presentation here or do we just expect the delivery of the summary to the council members? What's the expectation from the link to the committee? We'll give for our new folks as well. This was a recommendation from our budget link two years ago? Last year. Or last year? Just last year. And unless there's anyone on the committee that really wants to see the audit in this committee, I would entertain a motion to take it out, or we can have the audit presented formally to the committee and we can hear the audit. What's the pleasure of the committee? Vice Mayor Kay. Thank you, Chair. I think it would be appropriate to have that circulated to the council members, and if people have questions, we can bring it back. Otherwise, just have that be for information only. So I would delete it from this committee at this time. Second. I'm sorry, what was the motion? Take it off the agenda at this time. If people have questions, then we can bring it back. Okay, there's a motion and a second on the floor. Discussion. Councilman Brown. I just wanted to ask about the procedure. Is this one of our list of outside agencies, this Lyric Theater, are they on that list that we actually give them money? Yes, sir. They are? Give them money. Are they on the outside agency list? We do. They're not on the partner agency list that we're discussing, but we do fund them, yes. Okay, so because of the companies or the nonprofit organizations that are on that outside agency, I understand that each one of those is supposed to have an audit. Is that not correct? When they're applying for the funding each year, they go through the Bluegrass Community Foundation's web portal, and that information is on there. Yes. But I'm talking about an outside agency that we've run through our budget. There's several agencies there, Salvation Army, Hope Center. Right, goodgiving.net is what it's called. Pardon? Goodgiving.net, and that's where they submit those audits. You are correct. Okay. Do we do the same thing on those other agencies as far as looking at their audit or bringing them to this budget committee? We have not in the past. No, that's through the social service partner agency committees who distribute the money and make the recommendation to the council. Okay. Mr. Mayor, do you want to touch base on the lyric piece? I wanted to clarify Council Member Brown's question. Lyric is not a component unit of the government, so that they're not required to submit an audit and us to incorporate them in our financial statements. They do receive funding from us and, as such, go through a process of review each year before we continue that funding. So we're not requiring an audit for these agencies that get funding from LFUCG unless they're a component unit. Is that a fair statement? It's required as a component unit. Right. Yes, sir. And Lyric Theater is not a component unit. It's not a component unit. I didn't think they were. Okay. But those other agencies, when they come before us, or in the past, I'm looking back in history, They always came before us during the budget processing of asking for certain dollars, and usually they would have an audit or something to back that up as far as what their needs were. And I believe that's where the committee was, is that it was now time in the Lyric's history in order to get on that annual audit profile. I agree on your motion because if we're not requiring that from other agencies to have an audit presented to the budget committee. I don't know that we need any of the others to single Lyric Theater out. Thank you. Any other discussion on this topic? All right. There's a motion on the floor to remove from committee. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that's removed. The next piece on down is the quarterly development report, and that's actually from Commerce Lexington, our economic development partner, and they do that quarterly for the new people, and we'll have an update. You should get a packet. already have received a packet for this update. I thought that will happen here in February. The next is the Collaboration Strategy Among Economic Development Partner Agencies. Again, this is a general services link. Is there any discussion or motions on this topic? Motion to remove? So moved. Second. There's a motion by Council Member Ford to remove this from committee. Second by Council Member Scutchfield. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, that's removed. Next is the jobs program review by Councilor Amosati. You want to give us an update, Councilor Amosati? Maybe I can have Jamie. Would you mind giving us an update on the jobs review program, or do you have one? Not quite sure what you're looking for. We had a jobs program. I think that I can't remember what the amount of money that we put into it. The jobs fund? Yes, I'm sorry. You're looking for financials? Correct. Okay. I'll have to get back to you. I know that we've had two applications that have been approved. I think it's approximately $350,000 out of the million that was appropriated. Correct. So I'll come back to you with more concise numbers. Maybe we can have an update in February and we'll put it on the agenda. That's fine. So we'll keep it in committee. I want to see it. Being a new council member back, I'd like to see a little bit more. Okay, we'll keep it in committee and have an update in February. Okay, thank you. And then the last is the DDA 10-year development plan. Is there any conversation on this item? Again, I'm not sure how it got into the Economic Development Committee. Are there any motions or discussion on this? The DDA 10-year development plan. It was put in by the General Services link, and I don't see anyone from that link in this committee. so unless there's a motion I was in that committee but was not there when it happened so I can't give you any information on that I think they're working on an update to the master plan that might be something they'd like to bring back to the council at some point later in the year well I think at this point we'd have a motion to remove and bring it back if we need to once we get that plan motion by Council Member Ford Second by Councilman Brown, any discussion on that? Councilman Maloney? No. All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Very good. That wraps up our list. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Motion to adjourn. All in favor say aye. Aye. We're adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you. guitar solo How do you like me now? Now that I'm on my way You still think I'm crazy Standing here today I couldn't make you love me But I always dreamed about Living in your radio How do you like me now? Tell me, baby I will preach on I'm out. Well, I bet you I'm gonna be a big star Might win an Oscar, you can never tell The movie's gonna make me a big star Cause I can play the part so well Well, I hope you'll come see me in my movie Then I know that you will find a scene The biggest move that ever hits the big time And all I gotta do is track that to leave We'll make a scene about a man that's that lonely I beg it down upon his bended knee I'll play the part but I won't need rehearsing All I have to do is act naturally Well I'll bend you, I'm gonna be a big star Might win an Oscar, you can never tell The movies are gonna make me a big star Cause I can play the part so well Well, I hope you'll come to see me in my movie Then I know that you're gonna finally see The biggest fool that ever hit the big time And all I gotta do is act naturally We'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely All I have to do is act naturally Two, three, four, all we have to do is act naturally I remember finding out about you Every day my mind is all around you Looking out from my low room Day after day Bring it home, baby, make it soon I give my love to you I remember holding you while you sleep Every day I feel the tears that you hear Looking out on my lonely glue Day after day Bring it home, baby, make it so I give my love to you