Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government overrides Mayor Gorton’s veto on budget

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Earlier this month changes were made to the city’s budget, adding new positions and increased costs.

“I cannot support the precedent this sets of increasing our projected revenue by $750,000 without justification. I do not want to make choices today that could potentially force us to increase taxes in future years,” said Mayor Linda Gorton in a work session meeting on June 18.

But on Thursday, “I have a motion to override the mayor’s veto of the FY-2025 budget ordinance,” said council-at-large James Brown filing a motion during the urban county council meeting.

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voting 11-to-2 to override Mayor Linda Gorton’s veto of ten positions the council added to the budget that goes into effect on Monday.

“I hereby move pursuant to section 5.05 of the Urban County County Government charter to override all of the mayor’s June 18, 2024 line item vetoes of the FY-2025 budget ordinance,” added Brown.

The move, adding about $3.2 Million in additional spending to Gorton’s original budget proposal, which was unveiled in April.
Mayor Linda Gorton’s predecessors Jim Gray and Foster Pettit are the only other mayors who have vetoed items in the budget.

“I have been advised by the Department of Law that such action requires the affirmative vote of at least nine members of the urban county council,” said Brown.

With the budget of $539,000,000+ there will be no tax increases and will also double the funding for affordable housing and homeless prevention efforts among other items.