What to do with the city's storm sewer system has become a topic of debate.

It's heated up again now that the city has announced it has a 17.8 million dollar budget surplus.

A lot of that money has already been earmarked for other projects. The mayor wants to use nearly 6 million dollars for storm water projects, but not everyone is buying into the plan.

Auditors are supposed to finalize how much of a surplus there really is soon, that's why many including Isaac's opponent, say she's jumped the gun spending money she may not even have.

Mayoral candidate Jim Newberry says Isaac's plans to spend 5.5 million dollars of the estimated budget surplus on storm sewers is merely a political band-aid.

Newberry says, "She recognizes that she has some serious political problems, she's desperately looking for something that will give her traction."

Newberry believes the floods that swept away two women last month and left dozens of others stranded could have been and should have been avoided. Now, he believes the mayor is trying to capitalize on the tragedy.

"Part of the problem in Lexington, we're constantly re-acting to what the last crisis was rather than trying to spend proactively, Newberry said.

Mayor Isaac could not be reached for comment, but a spokesperson says Mayor Isaac has simply made proposals and nothing has been finalized.

Some members of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council have said they were not informed of the decision to use the money for storm water projects.