Lexington, KY - In his State of the Merged Government Address Mayor Jim Gray was expected to tout the agreement reached by the city and police and fire union leaders to reign in the unfunded liability of the city’s pension system.
“(The deal will) effect our city’s financial future in a significant way,” Gray told members of the media before the address. “Cities and states across the country are struggling with pensions and it has even taken some of them down. Last Friday, we found a solution.”
It is now up to the Kentucky General Assembly to approve of the deal reached by the city and its police and fire unions.
Gray delivered the city’s annual status report before a sold out crowd at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington. The occasion was the annual State of the Merged Government address hosted by the Lexington Forum (http://lexingtonforum.org).
During the speech, Gray announced the city had topped the 300,000 mark for population.
“I have a friend who’s mother refers to Lexington as just an ‘Extry Large Mayberry’ and I say that perhaps we’re rethinking that,” Gray said to media before the speech. “We want to think of ourself affectionately as a town that’s inclusive and neighborly. What we see today is a growing city, Lexington is a very attractive city, it was the fastest growing city in terms of percentages and absolute numbers in the last Census, so thinking and behaving like a mature city is our responsibility.”
Though the city is reaching new heights in population and is in reach of shoring up its pension issues, Gray said there is still work to be done on making Lexington the great American city he dreams of it being.
“While we’re back on track, we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said.
Unemployment in Lexington is down from a high of 8.7 percent to 6 percent, its lowest in six years, but it is still double the numbers from before the recession. Despite the higher percentages, there are more Lexingtonians working than ever before, Gray said.
The city is starting to move forward on capital projects through more creative ways than public financing. Gray said the Rupp Arena project is on schedule and is examining 14 different revenue sources at the moment and the Downtown Development Authority is developing an RFP for a public/private partnership for the old courthouse, which was closed last year due to high lead levels.
Asked if 21c, an art centric hotel slated to open next to the condemned courthouse, had expressed concern over the courthouse the mayor said simply: “Yes.
“(21c is) a $40 million investment and that has a lifting capacity to it, of course and should encourage then the creative imagination of the area around the old courthouse,” he said.