Voters in Lexington approved three amendments to the city's charter on Tuesday, changing how councilmembers are paid, how they are held accountable and how often the foundational document is reviewed.
The amendments were developed through a civic assembly hosted by local nonprofit CivicLex. Kit Anderson, CivicLex deputy director, said Lexington is the only city in Kentucky that has a charter.
"But it's almost like our local constitution. It's this like foundational document that sets out the structure of government," Anderson said.
The first amendment tackles councilmember pay. It raises the cap to almost $60,000 in 2026 money adjusted for inflation.
The increase won't take effect until 2031. Anderson said members of the civic assembly didn't think it would be fair for current councilmembers to benefit from the pay increase.
The second amendment involves attendance and accountability requirements for council members. "There was an idea of recommending increasing salary, but there was also a really strong feeling in the room that if... the salary is potentially going to go up, you know, what's the exchange there? How do voters know that their council members are doing a good job? How do they know who to elect and that it's really worth... the money? And so this is now requiring in the charter that council have kind of more public, more transparent attendance and accountability expectations, and the biggest reason to have that is to help inform voters," Anderson said.
The third change deals with how often the charter is reviewed.
"The third one is about charter review. So... it's a new requirement now that the city of Lexington review the charter every 8 years and review it through a process that is... a representative sample of residents being like the review group," Anderson said.
It is important to note that these amendments did not come from city hall, but from 30 randomly selected Lexingtonians through the city's first civic assembly.
According to CivicLex, not every assembly member supported the three proposals. The group is now working on a minority report to explain those opposing views.
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