Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg says he’s hoping to secure more state funds to help complete several major projects in Kentucky’s largest city, including the Community Care Campus and the Belvedere. Some officials have already signaled this could be a difficult budget year, with an uncertain economic outlook and waning federal funding.
“I believe that the strong relationships that we've created with the bipartisan success and partnerships that we've created to move Louisville's economy forward is a true national model, and I'm excited to continue this work going into the next session of the General Assembly,” Greenberg, a Democrat, said of the Republican-controlled legislature.
During the previous state budget, Louisville got several major investments, including $100 million for downtown revitalization, $46.5 million extra for specific projects at the University of Louisville, $5 million for the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, $4.3 million for the Louisville Orchestra, $7 million for the Shawnee Outdoor Learning Center, $3 million for the West Louisville Opportunity Center, $4 million for the Louisville Botanical Gardens, $5 million for the Harbor House of Louisville — the list goes on.
Those were all part of an enormous “one-time” spending bill that lawmakers passed in 2024, allocating $2.5 billion across the state over a two-year period. At the time, they made clear this type of spending would not be a regular occurrence. When the bill passed the state Senate last year, GOP Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Chris McDaniel of Ryland Heights called it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” that is the reward for the Republican supermajorities' discipline in spending.
Greenberg said last week that it was always his understanding that, if the city held up its part of the bargain, several of the projects that got off the ground with state funding would get more in coming years to see them completed. Lawmakers will be tasked with creating the next two-year budget when the reconvene in January.
“We need to continue to fund those projects so that we can complete them. That was always part of the long term plan,” Greenberg said.
His plan asks for more money specifically for several of the downtown revitalization projects that the General Assembly gave him $100 million for in 2024: the Belvedere, the Community Care Campus, the Vacant Building Conversion/Downtown Development Fund and the LouMed campus. But Greenberg is asking the state to make some new investments this year too, requesting the state finance a new waterfront amphitheater and the conversion of the now-vacated Humana Building.
He’s also asking for money to make Louisville the “a national leader in sports tourism” and to build a training center for first responders.
“We're laying the groundwork for growth that draws visitors, creates jobs and strengthens our entire region.” Greenberg said. “It has been clear across the state that when you invest in Louisville, that's a great investment in our entire state.”
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said he believes this could be a difficult year for the state budget in a press conference where he announced he had found some funds to cover a shortfall in the senior meals program in the short term.
“This next budget is going to have some difficult decisions to make, and there's going to be limited resources in virtually every program that's out there,” Beshear said.
At a legislative preview hosted by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, McDaniel said he believed lawmakers would have to “have more nimbleness” than in previous budgets, pointing to fluctuations in tariffs and cuts to federal benefits.
However, GOP Senate President Pro Tempore David Givens of Greensburg said he believed there may be more opportunities for more big investments, specifically referencing the 2024 one-time spending bill.
“There were a couple of sessions that money was flat, but the vast majority of the time that I've been in the legislature, it's been cut, cut, cut, cut, cut,” Givens said. “Now we are financially sound. We've got the foundation good and solid. We can continue to invest.”
Greenberg dropped the names of Republican and Democratic leadership before delving into his sprawling agenda, which also asks the state to fill holes left by federal cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Republican lawmakers have previously said they do not intend to “backfill” federal programs.
Greenberg also asked for recurring state funding to support the city’s buses, TARC. He said the funding would help improve the reliability of the city’s public transportation, expand routes and serve more Jefferson County Public Schools students — one of Louisville’s proposals for expanding student busing and keeping more TARC jobs.
“We haven't changed the way we funded TARC here in the city since 1974 and so with some state funding, we can help expand the TARC footprint,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg called for support for the city’s “Thrive by 5” program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a pathway to universal pre-K in Jefferson County specifically. Although he didn’t explicitly name Beshear’s plan for universal pre-K as a priority, Greenberg said he does support the plan when asked. The Republican supermajority has thus far shown little to no appetite for such a statewide program, although state lawmakers told Louisville to use its mineral severance funds to support Thrive by 5.
Calls for new legislation
Greenberg continued pushing for a safety agenda that focused on gun violence prevention, including allowing cities and localities to create their own gun safety regulations. In 2012, lawmakers passed an ordinance that explicitly bans local governments from regulating essentially anything to do with firearms or its components from manufacturing to purchase to storage.
However, the Democratic mayor said he believed there might be some movement on a piece of the gun violence puzzle.
“We know that there are far too many illegal guns on the street in the wrong hands that are committing crimes, that are killing people, that are harming people, and so I'm going to continue to keep this on my agenda as long as I'm mayor of Louisville,” Greenberg said. “I do believe that we're making progress on certain areas.”
During the interim session, Republican Jason Nemes of Middletown brought forward a proposal to ban “Glock switches,” which turn legal handguns into automatic weapons. Several of Kentucky’s neighbors have already prohibited the accessory, including Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio.
Greenberg mentioned a few other Democratic priorities, including automatically restoring voting rights to Kentuckians with felonies. That would require a constitutional amendment, which has seen bipartisan support in the past, though it has never made it onto the ballot.
He called for a ban on utility shutoffs during extreme heat and cold and during natural disasters. Many states have protections based either on the weather or date — Indiana doesn’t allow shutoffs between Dec. 1 and Mar. 15 each year, and West Virginia blocks shutoffs when the temperature is predicted to drop below freezing.
