FY20 Budget

2019-2020 Approved Executive and Detail Budgets

(July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020)

The recommended Louisville Metro Government budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 was approved by Metro Council on June 25, 2019. The budget manages the impact of a $35 million deficit, driven largely by repeated 12 percent annual increases in the city’s state pension costs, while minimizing the impact on Louisville’s most vulnerable. A majority of Metro Council members voted March 21, 2019 against a proposal to generate new revenue that would have fully addressed this year’s deficit and those anticipated in future years due to state-driven pension increases. This plan translates that vote into a budget.

FY20 is the second of at least five fiscal years during which Louisville Metro Government’s (LMG) pension obligation will dramatically increase due to revised assumptions made by the Kentucky Retirement Systems in July 2017 and April 2019. Despite a growing economy evidenced by the creation of 80,000 new jobs, the opening of 2,700 new businesses, and $13 billion in capital investment across private and public sectors, the tripling of LMG’s pension costs requires that this budget be balanced primarily by cuts given no new revenue source.

The cuts reflected in this plan, with total expenditures of $876 million including $624 million of General Fund dollars and $120 million in capital funding and debt service, affect areas throughout the city, and span LMG agencies and departments.

Public safety is a top priority of this budget. However, given that public safety agencies comprise approximately 60 percent of the budget, exempting them from cuts was impractical.
Minimizing the pain of cuts inflicted on Louisville’s most vulnerable is another priority of this budget, reflected in the investment of $1 million for homeless services, $1.1 million for community ministries, and $5 million for affordable housing.
Unfortunately, layoffs were an unavoidable element of this spending plan because personnel costs make up approximately 70 percent of the budget.

The capital budget is the smallest in five years, with investments focused primarily on maintenance and affordable housing.

Through the implementation of structurally sound, fiscally responsible solutions, including the creation of additional revenue, future budget cuts can be limited, instead allowing for invests to sustain a thriving city that competes and wins in the global marketplace and whose reputation for compassion, innovation and opportunity continues to grow on the world stage.

View the 2019 - 2020 Approved Executive Budget Document in its entirety  (Size is 66.4 MB)

View the 2019 - 2020 Approved Detail Budget Document in its entirety (Size is 18.6 MB)