LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Metro Council is set to vote on the city’s budget for this fiscal year this week.
Mayor Craig Greenberg’s office has proposed more than $1 billion for this year’s budget and Metro Council plans to take a vote on Thursday.
Greenberg’s proposal puts a particular emphasis on public safety with $432 million set to go towards the Louisville Fire Department, EMS and Metro Police.
When Greenberg proposed the budget, he said the money was to help update technology for the departments, update facilities as well as retaining and recruiting personnel.
Fire Chief Brian O'Neill argued that the raises are much deserved especially after several high profile rescues.
"We've had a couple that have really been in the public eye recently, but our members do this stuff day in and day out. All the time. They take a tremendous risk, they put their health on the line,” he said. “Mayor Greenberg was very forward with us saying he's here for public safety, he's talked about that, and this budget shows it."
While there is more than a billion dollars in the budget, there are several organizations that are seeing their budgets cut.
That's because federal ARP money is drying up this year, according to the Mayor's office.
Nonprofits are also included in the cuts such as Hope Village in Smoketown, which has established itself as a trusted resource to help people leave homelessness.
They told WHAS11 News they could see their budget sliced in half under the proposal.
Meanwhile, the Center for Neighborhoods received $50,000 under the mayor’s last budget but with this proposal, they would get nothing.
“We were able to sit down and think about this situation, but I know a lot of other organizations, this really caught them off guard,” executive director Mikal Forbush said.
Homelessness spiked 12% across the country last year, according to a recent study from Harvard University.
The study said the most fundamental driver to the growing homeless population is lack of affordable housing, with a record number of renters spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
Mayor Craig Greenberg has proposed more than $32 million in this year’s budget to go to affordable housing.
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