LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The hit to Metro Louisville's budget due to COVID-19 likely won't be as severe as the city feared it would be.
Just two months ago, Mayor Greg Fischer's office projected a gloomy outlook on Louisville's budget. It predicted more cuts and layoffs to 1,000 city workers.
That's now changed, in what Metro Council Budget Committee Chairman Bill Hollander called "great news."
But the city hasn't completely dodged the impact from COVID-19. It's just not as severe as city officials anticipated it would be back in April.
"This is less negative than we originally thought in April. It's still not positive," Louisville Metro Chief Financial Officer, Daniel Frockt, said.
Frockt told the budget committee Monday afternoon that the general fund revenues will be higher than expected, meaning the city largely won't have to tap into the rainy day fund.
"A far cry from where we thought we would be for FY20 and FY21," he said.
The change in outlook comes from two places, Frockt said. That includes higher than expected revenues and a change in how Louisville can use the federal funding it received from the CARES Act for coronavirus relief.
Fischer's office previously forecasted a roughly $115 million dollar shortfall over the current and next fiscal year. Now that's been revised to about $85 million over FY20 and FY21.
Frockt said the estimated general fund revenue for Fiscal Year 2019-20 is $610 million, revised up from $596 million when Mayor Fischer delivered his budget address in April. The estimated general fund revenue for Fiscal Year 2020-21 is also $610 million, revised up from $594 million in April.
The Fiscal Year 2019-20 figure is $32 million less than the $642 million forecasted in the winter, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Frockt said wage earnings and profits within the city decreased less than Metro revenue officials initially feared.
"It's unfair to the city workers to say that we're going to lay off 1,000 people when we're not even in the ballpark of that now," Councilman Anthony Piagentini said. "I hope that all of us in times of uncertainty moving forward do not default to panicking the public."
Louisville's Chief Financial Officer still cautioned that things could change again.
He also warned that the city won't be able to avoid cuts to "vital services in the long-term, without additional revenue."
Contact reporter Tyler Emery at temery@WHAS11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@TylerWHAS11) and Facebook.
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