Trash, trees, police & pools: What to know about Kansas City’s budget, how to weigh in

Kynala Phillips

It’s budget season, Kansas City.

Earlier this month, city manager Brian Platt and Mayor Quinton Lucas submitted their proposed budget for the next year to the city council for approval, coming to a total of just over $2 billion. It includes city money from various sources and the last of the federal money the city was awarded as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

Now, residents across the city will have the chance to learn more about and weigh in on how the city will spend its dollars at public hearings.

Then, the city council will approve the budget later in March.

What’s in Kansas City’s budget?

The 2023-2024 submitted budget includes money for everything from housing, policing, city employee wages and local infrastructure across the city.

In general, it proposes $1.3 billion for governmental activities, including $1.1 billion for infrastructure and accessibility, $542 million for public safety, $243 million for housing and healthy communities and $170 million for finance and governance.

We break down some of the highlights for different departments in a second.

“During recent years, feedback from public budget meetings resulted in additional funding in areas such as tenant advocacy,” city spokesperson Sherae Honeycutt said in an emailed statement. “These are difficult decisions as increases in one program often result in a decrease in another important service as the City works to achieve a structurally balanced budget.”

How to get involved

There will be three public meetings, which can all be attended in-person or virtually on Saturday, Feb. 25, Tuesday, March 4 and Saturday, March 7.

Both hearings on Feb. 25 and March 4 will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and people can join by attending in person or visiting here. The session on March 7 will be from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The meetings will be on the 26th Floor of City Hall at 414 E. 12th St. Attendees will get a voucher to cover parking at Wolfe Garage at 11th and Oak Streets.

At the hearings, residents will be able to comment on the submitted budget and give feedback on budget items that are important to them. City council members will be in attendance and will consider public comments when deliberating on the final budget, according to the city.

Public comments can also be emailed to publictestimony@kcmo.org and make sure to put ‘Proposed Budget’ in the subject line.

“Public involvement is crucial to ensure the budget submitted reflects priorities of Kansas City’s diverse citizenry and preferences for service levels within available resources,” Honeycutt said. “Residents and the business community are customers of public services, owners by virtue of paying taxes and voting, and are partners in working to achieve public goals.”

Budget break down

Here are some of the highlights in the city budget for different departments. You can read the whole letter from the city manager and mayor about their proposed budget online.

City staff:

  • $586.2 million for personnel costs, including wage and benefit increases from collective bargaining agreements, and pay increases to align more with the job market

Policing and public safety:

  • $280.7 million for KCPD, an increase of $11.5 million

  • $6.0 million for the design of a new jail and rehabilitation center

  • $650,000 for youth programs as violence prevention

  • $1 million for the city’s Vision Zero plan working on pedestrian street safety, including $500,000 for branding and traffic signs

Public works (snow and trash):

  • $1.8 million for snow removal equipment and enhanced snow removal operations

  • $11.3 million for converting street lights to LED

  • $1 million for trash carts

  • $1.4 million for recycling carts

  • $1.1 million for expanding bulky item pickup

Transit:

  • $55.5 million for KCATA to support the transit system and to keep zero fares

  • $20.5 million for the streetcar, a decrease of $6.8 million

Neighborhoods:

  • $5 million for another round of Rebuild KC neighborhood grants

  • $1 million to plant 10,000 trees

  • Creation of a new team dedicated to regulating short-term rentals

  • Creation of a volunteer coordinator position to help organize neighborhood clean-ups

  • $30 million ($5 million per council district) for neighborhood conservation projects, which means residents can request improvements to city facilities and amenities

Housing:

  • $400,000 for tenants’ right to counsel program

  • $196,000 for an “unhoused encampment decommissioning program” to provide storage and outreach specialists to assist people being moved out of camps

  • $1.3 million for homelessness initiatives

  • $3.3 million for the creation of low-barrier shelters

Health:

  • $285,000 to expand services for mental health and wellbeing

Parks:

  • $1.1 million increase for pools and aquatic centers to return to full operations

  • $1.4 million to expand the park ranger program to promote safety in parks

  • $1.6 million increase for staffing community centers

Airport:

  • $73.3 increase for debt from the new KCI terminal, and the terminal revenue will increase by $53 million

Water:

  • Recommends a rate increase of 5%

Tourism:

  • $30.1 million for convention and tourism

Anything else?

The bonds Kansas city voters approved in November will also contribute to the budget even though they’ll be issued over the course of five years.

  • $80 million for improvements to parks, community centers, pools and historic fountains

  • $45 million for maintenance and improvements to the convention center

  • $50 million for the affordable housing trust fund

How to learn more

To learn more about how the city budget impacts you, your business or your community, try using Open Budget KC. Open BudgetKC is a city tool that visualizes how the city previously distributed money. It does not include data for this next year’s budget that the council has not yet approved.

You can learn more about the city’s budget process in general on its website.

Advertisement