As per reader request to ignore the number of employees in local government and to compare budgets between Lexington, KY and Evansville and Vanderburgh County the CCO has done some analysis and has found the following budget numbers online:
Lexington Metro Government Approved 2013 Data
Budget: $290 Million
Population: 301,569
Spending per person: $961.63
Evansville Vanderburgh Combined Data (City 2013, County 2012)
Combined Budget: $339 Million
Population: 180,000
Spending per person: $1,883
City of Evansville Budget: $253 Million
Population: 117,000
Spending per person: $2,162
This comparison surely brings up some serious questions regarding the differences in spending per person. By any way of examining these budgets it is blatantly obvious that Evansville-Vanderburgh in part or in whole are spending double the amount per person than Lexington Metro is. Then the question arises as to whether or not such savings are to be attributed to consolidation of Lexington and Fayette County that happened well over 30 years ago. That is impossible to tell but it does make one wonder with these budgets readily available why the consolidation committee here could not find any significant savings. It is to be acknowledged that just over $700,000 in annual savings has been identified but is rather insignificant (0.21%) when compared to a $339 Million annual budget.
To achieve the resident efficiency of Lexington Metro on a scaled basis Evansville-Vanderburgh would need to propose a consolidated budget of $173 Million or nearly 50% of what is currently budgeted to be spent. The CCO is going to go out on a limb here and postulate that IF and we do mean IF the consolidation committee were proposing a budget that saves $166 Million through consolidation efficiency that the consolidation referendum would pass by a wide margin.
That begs the question of “why did the consolidation committee fail to identify or propose such savings”?
2013_City of Evansville Summary_Budget
Link to Complete 2013 Lexington Metro Budget:
http://www.lexingtonky.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=20806
I’m still voting hell no , i don’t buy their nickle and dime savings while they get rich taking dollars out the back door Hell no is how I’m voting
Two different cities.
Two different states.
We may be comparing apples to oranges here. Kentucky is a completely different animal than Indiana when it comes to property taxes. I have a friend who lives in Henderson and he says a home that’s assessed at $100,000 pays the same as any other home that has an assessment of $100,000 — no matter where the home is in the county. That’s not the same in Evansville. When my family members go house hunting on the internet I’m amazed how little folks in the county pay for their homes as opposed to folks in the city, even though the county folks have higher assessed values they pay far less in property taxes…Amazing. And they want to bring this type of taxation to the whole county rather than just in the city? No thanks. I’ll pass.
Which is why we compared spending as opposed to how the revenue for the spending was gotten. A dollar out is a dollar out on both sides of the river.
How much of the city budget belongs to the water department? I heard John Friend talk about this on TV one time watching a city council meeting (yeah I was bored). Friend said the water department costs show up on the city budget but it’s actually 100% paid for by user fees and not property taxes. I was pretty shocked by that comment. I had no idea. So my question is does Lexington count their water department in their overall budget and is that a user fee like in Evansville?
Lexington doesn’t have a water department. Kentucky American water co is a private company that runs their water.
Ironically, back in 2006, the city held a referendum to decide if they were going to eminent domain the water company. Before I started, the polls were around 51-49. After Kentucky American Water Co sent me out to talk to the residents for a few months (I was the only one from UK willing), it went up to 60-40 and the measure failed.
That propeled me to Seattle which basically propeled me back here to get things done.
From the link at the end of the article the 2013 proposed Evansville budget includes revenue from the water and sewer utility of $66.2 Million and expenses of $56 Million that implies that as a stand alone business the water and sewer are making a $10.2 Million profit (15.4%) which is a very good net margin. Imagine if Evansville did not have a water and sewer department and had to tax us and extra $10.2 Million.
Apparently Lexington does not have a water utility but does have revenue from the sewers for $45 Million with operating expenses of $35 Million meaning they make $10M from sewers too.
Here is a link to 120 pages about Kentucky American Water rates. Have Fun!
http://www.amwater.com/files/Kentucky%20Tariff.pdf
Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to make a brief and to the point comparison.
“That begs the question of why did the consolidation committee fail to identify or propose (a 50% of combined budget) savings?” {Editor}
Because the intent and the goal of the reorganization committee was not to identify major cost saving efficiencies and propose budget savings. In fact the committee took overt steps to avoid politically sensitive pitfalls, and their plan avoids major cost saving departmental eliminations or mergers.
So what was the intent and goal of the committee, as expressed in their plan?
Keep in mind, if the figures given are correct, county government spends about $86 million, and the unincorporated population is about 63 thousand people (roughly $1,364 per resident compared to the city’s $2,162 per. And don’t start listing all the things the city does for the county, because a lot of those things are fee based, and county government offices perform all sorts of services for city residents too).
No matter how you look at it the City of Evansville is too damned expensive, and the rapidly aging population of this city can no longer afford the luxury of operating a government that is woefully inefficient (i.e.,the people who run this place spend too much of the taxpayers’ money!)
To Hell with consolidation! The time has come to abandon the city charter and revert to solely county government. Rio Grande City, Texas did it, and we can too!
Exactly, this city is basically broke and instead of finding ways to trim or cut from their budget, they are proposing raises. Huge raises for a select few.
Does this make sense??
Just vote NO to this incomplete consolidation plan!!! Do you want the backroom deals and cronyism of Evansville to take charge of the county!!!!
2010 Federal Census
Living below the poverty rate:
Lexington/Fayette………………20.9
State…………………………23.6
* * * * * * * *
Evansville…………………….25.2
State…………………………18.7
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Per Capita Income Household Income
$21,153.00 $35,469.00 Evansville
$28,348.00 $47,469.00 Lexington
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Priorities count a lot. At the risk of sounding mean spirited, which I am not, if your priorities are to see how much section-8 and habitat housing you can build in a city, I think it safe to assume that per capita income is not going to be your strong suit.
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