Tagged: Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer

Mayor Greg Fischer says Louisville’s economy is rebounding from the national recession, but the city still faces a large budget shortfall due to rising pension costs.

Fischer made the comments at his annual State of the City address before the Rotary Club at the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage. This year's speech was slightly more upbeat than previous ones, with the mayor arguing that Louisville is becoming more entrepreneurial.

The Metro area has added 22,000 jobs and unemployment has dropped by almost four percent in the last two years. But challenges remain, namely Metro Government's hefty budget deficits.

"Last year’s $25 million gap is now down to about $13-14 million out of a $500 million general fund. That’s still a lot of money. But we didn’t get into this problem in two years and we can’t solve it in two years," says Fischer.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has chosen former Kentucky Secretary of Justice Ishmon Burks to be the 2013 recipient of the city’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award.

Burks is a retired army colonel who also served as the first African-American commissioner of the Kentucky State Police. In 2011, he served as interim chief of the Louisville Metro Police Department and as Fischer’s chief of public safety.

Burks says he is humbled by the mayor’s choice, and accepts the Freedom Award with a sense of gratitude.

"I wasn’t quite sure how to take it, but he said ‘I think you’re the man’ and I said mayor if you think so it’s fine with me. And so I was surprised by the whole thing," he says.

Louisville Metro Councilman Ken Fleming, R-7, is concerned that Mayor Greg Fischer’s push for a local option sales tax will burden residents and wants to examine cutting other levies first.

For several months the mayor has been lobbying that the city needs the tool to be more competitive and independent.

Fischer argues his administration is not seeking a tax increase, and only wants voters to have the power to decide whether or not to fund special projects through a temporary hike to the state's sales tax.

But Fleming says the mayor has provided few details on what a specific proposal would look like, and is ignoring his campaign promises to spur economic development and job creation.

"Their goal should be economic development, and adding an additional tax on individuals regardless of income is not the right way to go," he says. "What we need to focus on is to try to find those strategies and tactics like getting rid of the occupational tax. That will help development incur job creation. I think we ought to look at that process and not a tax mentality."

State Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, has introduced a bill in the General Assembly that would give cities a local option sales tax.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has been a major proponent of the measure, which allows local voters to decide whether to fund special projects through a temporary sales tax increase. The mayor recently outlined the measure for Metro Council members, saying it gives Louisville more independence.

The bill was introduced Jan. 8 and will be in the State and Local Government Committee.

Stein says many lawmakers oppose any new taxes, but this gives local residents decision-making power.

"It is an option, unfortunately whenever some of us hear the word tax we jump 10 feet up in the air and say 'no, no, no.' But you need to pay attention. It gives the taxpayers the option of doing it. The people who vote have the options," she says.