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