LEXINGTON, Ky. — Last week, Mayor Linda Gorton released her budget proposal. Two items on the budget would have an impact on the fire department.

What You Need To Know

  •  Mayor Linda Gorton held a budget briefing last week to outline her budget proposal

  •  More than 50% of the budget will go towards public safety, with two items directly impacting the fire department

  •  One item will expand the department's Community Paramedicine program

  • The other item will go towards a new joint police and fire training facility

Part of the budget will go toward expanding the fire department’s Community Paramedicine program.

“What we are basically doing is doubling the staff,” said Gorton. “They need more people.”

She mentioned that the program has been an important asset to the fire department.

“They’re able to meet individuals, probably in different situations that we wouldn’t be helping them normally and I can’t say enough good things about those guys and gals,” said Major Derek Roberts with the Lexington Fire Department. “They do a great job over there.”

The program was originally designed for people who call emergency services often for help with access to medicine and getting a ride to a doctor’s office. While the program still does that, it has also expanded to help people who have overdosed.

“They are offering a different avenue, and they’re like, ‘Hey we have Narcan available,’” said Roberts. “They’ll have that available for them and they’re also like, ‘Do you want help?’ Sometimes people don’t want help, but in other cases, that was the wake-up call they needed and those individuals are able to point them in the right direction.”

The budget proposal outlines expanding the program to have two additional firefighter-paramedics and two social workers.

There is another item on the proposal that will also benefit the police department.

“I’m putting in $750,000 for site development of a new joint police-fire training center,” said Gorton. “This is pretty exciting.”

There have been requests to update the fire department’s training facility, according to Gorton.

“The first thing that’s missing is we’re probably a little behind in the amount of space that we have, in particular,” said Roberts. “We don’t have shower facilities.”

For those using the training facility, having access to showers is something that Roberts thinks is important.

There will also be classrooms for recruit classes and training purposes.

A site has not been selected yet and the plan is to build it on city property to keep costs lower.

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