Credit ratings · long-term GO
4 activeLFUCG · Moody's
Aa2Stable
as of 2024
LFUCG · S&P
AAStable
as of 2024
FCPS · Moody's
A2Negative
as of 2026-03
FCPS · S&P
AA−Negative
as of 2026
/ overview · fy2026
Where Your Lexington Tax Dollars Go
Fiscal year
FY2026 · Jul 1, 2025 — Jun 30, 2026
FY2026 Lexington Taxpayer ExposureAll Funds · 6 Entities
$0
▲ FCPS > LFUCGFCPS: $848.0MLFUCG: $832.6MPer capita: $5,397 · pop. 329,437[budget-fy26-adopted.pdf · FCPS tentative budget]
Combined FY2026 budgets of every public entity a Lexington resident funds — city government, schools, transit, library, health department, regional planning. Six entities, six separate lines on your tax bill. Most Lexington residents only know about one.
10-yr trend · CAGR +4.5%
aggregate · all entities
What Lexington Taxpayers Owe · FY2024Long-Term Liabilities
$0
▼ Roughly 1× annual taxpayer spendAnnual debt service: $73.2M/yrPer capita: $4,6675 obligations
Combined long-term liabilities across FCPS and LFUCG: bonded debt, net pension liability, and OPEB exposure. Roughly equal to a full year of taxpayer spending — every Lexington resident owes about the same amount on the public balance sheet as the city spends on them each year.
FCPS downgrade · Mar 2026
Moody's Aa3 → A2
FCPSBonded debt
$938.0M
FCPS outstanding bonded debt
Cited by Moody's in the March 2026 two-notch downgrade to A2; FCPS plans no additional borrowing while it rebuilds reserves.
Source: Moody's downgrade release · Bond Buyer, Mar 5 2026
LFUCGBonded debt
$337.9M
LFUCG outstanding bonded debt
Source: LFUCG CAFR FY24 · /api/v1/pension/summary
LFUCGPension
$244.0M
LFUCG net pension liability (KPPA share)
LFUCG's proportionate share of KPPA's $6.24B non-hazardous and $2.71B hazardous unfunded liabilities. Funded ratios: 61% (non-hazardous), 57% (hazardous).
Source: KPPA FY24 actuarial · LFUCG GASB 68 footnote
LFUCGAnnual debt service
$73.2M
LFUCG annual debt service (next FY)
What the city pays on principal + interest in the next fiscal year.
Source: LFUCG CAFR FY24 · debt-service schedule
LFUCGOPEB
$17.4M
LFUCG OPEB exposure (1% discount-rate sensitivity)
Net OPEB position is currently a small asset ($-2,713,959), but a 1% adverse move in the discount rate would swing it by $17,386,782. Flagged by the opeb_discount_rate_sensitivity detector.
Source: LFUCG FY24 audit · GASB 75 sensitivity disclosure
The six entities funded by Lexington taxpayers
Sorted by FY26 budget · primary-source linked
#1estimated
$848.0M
Fayette County Public Schools
FCPS
K-12 Education · 41,269 students
Source: FCPS Tentative Budget FY26 · KDE FA
Adopted FY26 working budget: $827.2M
#2audited
$832.6M
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government
LFUCG
Police · Fire · Roads · Parks · Sewer · Planning
Source: LFUCG FY26 Adopted Budget · budget-fy26-adopted.pdf p. 14
#3audited
$38.0M
Lexington Transit Authority
LexTran
Roadmap
Public transit · ~70% from 6¢/$100 property tax
Source: LexTran Resolution 2025-09 · FY26 operating budget
#4audited
$26.3M
Lexington-Fayette County Health Dept.
LFCHD
Roadmap
Public health · 2.43¢/$100 dedicated property tax
Source: LFCHD FY24 Audited Financials · RFH PLLC
FY24 actuals; FY26 audited not yet released
#5estimated
$24.0M
Lexington Public Library
Library
Roadmap
Public libraries · 5¢/$100 minimum property tax (state law)
Source: lexpublib.org/about/library-budget · KRS 173.x
Budget magnitude per Library Board orientation materials
#6audited
$9.0M
Bluegrass Area Development District
BGADD
Roadmap
Regional planning (7 counties incl. Fayette)
Source: KY Legislature 2025 ADD Annual Report
Fayette share is partial; total district funding shown
Most Lexington residents don't know their property tax funds five entities
Tax type
Property tax
≈$28M collected by LFUCG; majority passes through
FCPS55%
per CivicLex breakdown
LFUCG (kept)18%
~$10M of $28M
LexTran12%
6¢/$100 dedicated levy
Library9%
5¢/$100 state minimum
LFCHD6%
2.43¢/$100 compensating
Source: CivicLex budget primer · LexTran FY26 · LFCHD FY24 audit
Tax type
Occupational tax
2.25% wage + 2.25% net profits
LFUCG general fund100%
Source: LFUCG ordinance · FCPS FY24 audit
Tax type
Insurance premium / franchise / other
Insurance premium tax + franchise fees + permits
LFUCG general fund100%
Source: LFUCG FY26 Budget · revenue narrative
What's anomalous right now — across every entity we cover
LFUCG anomalies + FCPS governance events · unified
FCPS — fiscal-controls collapse
The school district is the largest single check Lexington writes and also where the most active fiscal-controls activity is happening: a state Auditor special examination, a forensic audit by Weaver & Tidwell, a ~$16M disclosed shortfall, and a $90M single-year cash drop (FY23 → FY24) that coexisted with a clean unmodified audit opinion.
Active P0
2
OROM violations · 24mo
7
Cash drop FY24
−$90M
LFUCG — anomaly flags
City-government anomalies surfaced by automated detectors: budget-to-actual variance, contract-concentration, pension volatility, OPEB sensitivity. Each flag is an observation, not an accusation — the methodology page explains how each detector works.
schools_clean_audit_cash_burn· low· fy2024
Click through for evidence
schools_kora_compliance_streak· high· fy2026
Click through for evidence
opeb_discount_rate_sensitivity· low· fy2024
Click through for evidence
pension_contribution_volatility· medium· fy2025
Click through for evidence
6 published flags
FCPS FY26 working budget
$827.2M
Largest single public budget in Fayette County
LFUCG FY26 adopted
$832.6M
Per published budget headline (p. 14)
Combined city + schools
$1.7B
Roughly $5,038 per Fayette County resident
Long-form investigations
FCPS · Round 6
Fiscal Controls 2026
What the $90M cash drop, voided occupational-tax vote, and Memorial Day bond approval actually mean.
LFUCG · Round 5
Pensions & Entitlements
$244M net pension liability, 61%/57% funded ratios, and the looming debt-service curve.
FCPS · Round 6
Schools, Explained
Plain-English primer on how Lexington's schools are funded and governed.
About this view
Every figure on this page traces to a primary public document — adopted budgets, audited financials, board resolutions, or KY Legislature annual reports. Numbers marked "estimated" use the most recent publicly available figure when an FY26 audit isn't yet released. The four entities without live dashboards (LexTran, LFCHD, Library, BGADD) are on the roadmap for future rounds. State flow-through (KDE SEEK, Medicaid, KYTC road funds) is Round 8 — a tax-incidence calculator that maps "you make $X, you own a $Y house" to your personal share of each entity above.