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Lexington Council plans to fund a new medical debt relief program

Lexington Council considering fund balance spending-10-29-24
Stu Johnson
Lexington Council considering fund balance spending-10-29-24

It took about four hours Tuesday for the Lexington City Council to make what’s become annual fall decisions about how to spend fund balance dollars.

Council approved a million dollars to go toward medical debt relief. Vice Mayor Dan Wu said a contract with a firm specializing in this area could mean removing debt for tens of thousands of citizens. He says the leverage power amounts to sound use of tax dollars.

“On the debt market you can buy debt on 100 to one on your money so a million dollars gets us a hundred million or more of medical debt,” said Wu.

Council had about $20 million to work with initially. But that included more than $11 million in requests from the mayor’s office. And that included more money set aside for a new City Hall and an end of year pay supplement for city employees.

On the question of establishing a medical debt relief program, Council Member Jennifer Reynolds expressed support for the expenditure

“I’m just gonna speak on the fact that I think that medical debt is one of the things that really financially destroys more families in our country than almost any other single thing,” said Reynolds.

Individual Council Member allocations went for things like a downtown master plan, housing stabilization, and to implement gun violence task force recommendations.

Council also gave approval for an Americans with Disabilities Act transition plan, paving support, social service non-profit capital grants program, and the Lexington Children’s Museum. Other items approved included money for the Caring Place Villages model for seniors and the disabled, and Commerce Lexington’s minority business accelerator.

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Stu has been reporting for WEKU for more than 35 years. His primary beat is Lexington/Fayette government.
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