Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm not sure. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to this special meeting of the Urban County Council. And just so you'll know, after this special meeting, we will take a brief break to allow those of you who have other business to exit, and then we will go right to the Council work session. But it's my pleasure this afternoon to present Mayor Gray, who will present to the Council and to the community his budget address. Mayor Gray. Whoops. Here we go. All righty. All right. Well, wow, full house. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. Vice Mayor Kay, Council members, and friends. Before I get started today, I want to thank the Council, each and every one of you, for working with us on this budget. The 16 of us, all together, agree on many things, but of course we don't always agree, and that's democracy. When we don't agree, we do it respectfully. And these days, that's pretty rare in government, and it's noteworthy. Our budget process is productive. We have lively debates and compromise. We just do it Lexington style, like I said earlier, respectfully. Throughout the process, we learn from each other, and that leads to better decisions. In the budget I'm proposing today, we've included funding for projects and initiatives that are priorities for each council member. Council members know firsthand the needs of their districts, and our at-large council members have great perspective, so we make efforts to include their input from the earliest phase of budget preparation. I think council members would agree. By working together as partners, we make our budget and our city stronger. Over the past couple of years, our partnership has produced some home runs for our city, Our new Senior Citizens Center is set to open in a couple of months. We're taking service to our seniors to a whole new level. The historic courthouse is in its design phase. It will become a source of city pride once more. And Town Branch Commons, a project that will be a defining landmark forever, is moving ahead. Altogether, a grand slam for Lexington. As work on these aspirational projects continues, it's time to shift our emphasis back to the fundamental blocks that are building our great American city. I've made that shift in the budget I'm proposing today. Now, while the budget's focus, priorities, and needs change year to year, In Lexington, the essential building blocks within the budget, public safety, economic development, parks, basic services, efficiency, quality of life, those building blocks are constant. That's because our citizens are our compass. They are government's true north. They point the way. And they are remarkably consistent. What do citizens want? If you listen, they'll tell you. And we listen. Council members listen. I listen. And here's what we've been hearing. Citizens want a safe city. They want a good job and economic opportunity for themselves and their children. They love their parks and want programming for all ages. Citizens expect high performance on basic services, like garbage pickup, paving, snow removal. They want their investment, their tax dollars, to be used wisely, efficiently, and they want transparency and accountability. They demand a high quality of life. They want to be proud of their city. When we put together the budget, we always come back to these blocks that build Lexington business and brand, each an essential part of the priorities we have lived by for the past five years, creating jobs, running government efficiently, and building a great American city. Today I'm going to talk about our proposed spending plan by taking it building block by block by block. First, let's talk about how we will pay for the investments we'll make in this budget year. Funds will come from four primary sources, annual revenues, surplus funds from budget year 2016, bond proceeds, and grants and private partnerships. Our economy continues to be strong. Annual revenue estimates have increased from negative growth in 2010 to the solid growth we are anticipating for 2017. We predict operating fund revenues of $345 million in 2017. I have confidence in this projection. It's based on the advice of University of Kentucky economists, plus economists from the private sector, and on the work of Commissioner Bill O'Meara and his revenue team. Now, as to the surplus. This is our fourth surplus in four years. A surplus sends a clear signal to our citizens. We run government efficiently and responsibly. We hold the line on spending throughout the year. A surplus confirms that we pass conservative budgets that try to anticipate problems that might arise, and we use our resources wisely and plan for future needs. Again this year, we are proposing to use our surplus, estimated at $6 million, for fire and police needs, vehicles, and repairs to fire stations. General fund bonds, another part of our revenue package, are lower this year. $47.9 million compared to $59 million in fiscal 2016. Now, I know bonds cause anxiety for some of us, but our bonding is considerably lower than it was just a few years ago. In budget year 2010, we approved $69 million in bonds, and a year earlier, $70 million just to address the unfunded liability in our police and fire pension. 10.7% of the budget I'm proposing today is committed to debt service, marginally lower than last year, and a manageable ratio as low interest rates continue. We've also included $10 million in bonds for the expanded Convention Center, which remains a high priority for the city moving forward. And finally, we always, as always, we continue to look for grants and public-private partnerships to help provide revenue for a variety of projects. Now let's move beyond revenue and talk about the building blocks of this budget. What Council Member Fred Brown is calling a 3P budget, public safety, paving, and parks. Yes, Fred, it's certainly that, plus a little bit more. First, as always, public safety dominates the general fund budget, 54%. It's an essential building block for our city. From 2011 to the budget we are discussing today, our total investment in public safety exceeds $1.7 billion. In that time, we have increased our annual investment by 26.7%, including a 5.5% increase in next year's budget. In police, that means we are moving forward with 20 new officers. With this addition, our authorized strength grows to 600, the highest it has ever been. I want to repeat that because it's important to our citizens. With the addition of these 20 officers, our authorized strength is the highest it has ever been. This budget includes 47 new full-time positions. 23 of them are in police, including a civilian employee who will oversee and maintain our new body cameras, plus another $600,000 for the cameras themselves, matching the $600,000 we included in our current budget. I agree with Police Chief Mark Barnard, who says these cameras will strengthen the bond of trust between our police officers and our citizens. There is also funding in the police budget for new vehicles, a canine facility, and taser replacements. In fire, the focus is on facilities and equipment. Most importantly, $5.2 million for a new fire station in Masterson Station to improve service to that growing part of our city. This is our 24th station and the first increase in fire stations since 2005. As Council members know, work has already started on the replacement of Station 2 on the city's north side. We've also budgeted over $2 million for repairs of fire stations and other needs. And we've included almost $3 million for fire vehicles. Economic development is always an important building block in our budget. Creating jobs is a top priority. In 2009, at the height of the recession, our unemployment rate was 8.8%. Today it hovers around 4%, a drop of more than 50%. That's good news, but it also tells us we have more work to do. Again this year, we are proposing an investment, $1.25 million, in our jobs fund, which is taking off creating and retaining good-paying jobs. So far, 223 jobs with an average annual salary of just over $60,000 have been committed by the 13 companies that have taken advantage of this incentive. The goal in creating the fund was to make our city more competitive in attracting and retaining jobs, and it's doing just that. It's also important to mention the investment we're making in the Purchase of Development Rights Program, PDR, fully funded at $2 million this year, protecting our farms and the important agriculture industry they support. I want to step outside of the budget a minute and talk about an important addition we're making in economic development in this year's budget. We are eliminating two positions in the mayor's office and adding a new position to report to Chief Development Officer Kevin Adkins, a workforce development manager who will work with both employers and potential employees to ensure we have a workforce with the right skills to meet companies' needs. As we work to grow our economy and help our citizens find good jobs, the need for good, targeted workforce training is important to those looking for work and also to those looking for employees. Yes, workforce training is important to our entire community, helping us attract and retain good companies that provide good jobs. Next, let's talk about parks. Great parks are a building block of all great cities. And in recent years, we have invested in plans and projects to make our parks greater all over town. This year, we're including $3 million for aquatics, in line with several recommendations made in the Aquatics Master Plan. We've included spray grounds at Masterson Station, Jacobson, Douglas, and Castlewood. Now, when many of us were kids, a spray ground was a backyard and a garden hose. But in today's spray grounds, you still get wet but have a lot more fun doing it. They are lower cost, low maintenance alternatives to pools, and parents and kids love them. We are also improving restrooms and providing some shade and upgraded safety features at several pools. and we've included $400,000 to design a regional aquatics center at Shelatoe. Now let's get back to the basics, basic services, the building block, the heart and soul of government. First, paving, a big priority. We've included $7 million in this budget for paving, and when added to the $3 million in state road funds, we will have available $10 million for paving next year. A new salt storage facility, a $1.5 million investment, will improve the efficiency of our snow removal efforts in East Lexington. Once again, we've included funding to hire contractors when the snow starts piling up. It made a big difference in the last two winters. We are honoring our commitment to affordable housing and homelessness prevention and intervention, including $2.75 million in this budget. We've made significant progress with both of these programs this year. During the Breeders' Cup, we gave increased attention to enhancing our corridors. That's continuing with a commitment of $394,000. And we've increased funds for mowing of greenways, parks, and along county roads. Two ways we work to keep Lexington beautiful. We're investing $934,000 to upgrade traffic signals at several busy intersections, plus $250,000 for pedestrian safety upgrade projects. Improving pedestrian safety has been a key initiative of our traffic engineers this year. And that work in pedestrian safety is expanding in this budget with $500,000 to begin to fill in the gaps in Lexington's sidewalks. One of the longest, most significant sidewalk gaps is along Southland Drive, a busy shopping corridor. We've included $1.8 million to build sidewalks on each side of Southland, complementing the recent investment in bike lanes supported by the Southland Association. In addition, we've included $500,000 for sidewalk improvements and to complement the Legacy Trail on 4th Street. Speaking of trails, we have also included $150,000 for trail maintenance. Our trails are growing in popularity and attracting tourists to our city. Next, efficiency. Improving the efficiency building block in government often means improving technology, and we are investing in the tools we need. For example, we're investing in LexCall, which makes government work efficiently for our citizens. LexCall is a one-stop shop for people to ask questions, put in a service order, or get connected to the right government staffer to solve a problem. LexCall handles about 220,000 citizen calls each year, and that number is growing. Improving LexCol's technology will improve our ability to serve citizens and ensure we follow through on their requests. We are investing $1.1 million. We've also included $1.25 million for networks and computer equipment, essential investments to replace aging equipment, improve security, and ensure accountability and transparently. Finally, projects that build quality of life and pride in our city. Today, I'm announcing support for a 130-acre youth sports complex in Cardinal Run North. We've included $7 million in this budget to move this project forward. A study by Bluegrass Sports Commission shows the $25 million complex would generate as much as $23 million a year locally. money spent on our hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. The study estimates the complex would attract 7,000 baseball, softball, soccer, and other sports teams to Lexington each year. Lexington is a great sports town, especially for youth sports, and there are never enough fields to meet all the needs. This complex would support regional competition, and it already has widespread support in our community. I've heard and you have heard from lots of parents who are really excited about the idea. We have worked together to build this great city, block by block by block, reaching up and lifting up and stretching to grab the brass ring for our city. We've demonstrated that together we can make a difference. Together we can make good things happen. This is our time, so let's seize the moment. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you.