Taxpayer spending in Kansas City has climbed up, up and away

Kansas City taxpayers often hear that City Hall is strapped for cash.

No, it’s not. Residents and businesses are shouldering a much larger burden than ever in financing public safety, street maintenance and water service improvements.

City spending has gone up far faster than the rate of inflation, even after accounting for small population growth.

That’s never highlighted in the budgets proposed by city officials, such as the 2015-16 fiscal year version that Mayor Sly James and City Manager Troy Schulte released in February.

Keeping with the “money is tight” mantra, the city plans to withhold raises from 6,900 employees while slashing indigent care funds and pulling the plug on $125,000 for the American Jazz Museum.

Yet taxpayers should not feel sorry for City Hall.

To illustrate that point, The Star compared actual city spending in the 1999-2000 fiscal year to planned spending in the 2015-16 budget, which will be approved later this month.

The starting date is the first year Kay Barnes took over as mayor, before she helped persuade the public to support a string of tax and fee increases. The ending date includes what is likely to be the first year of James’ second term in office.

The accompanying chart shows what has happened to large parts of the city budget over that span.

The city in the upcoming budget expects to spend $1.473 billion, or 80 percent more than it did 16 years ago.

If the budget had gone up at the rate of inflation, however, spending would be about $1.115 billion, or just 36 percent higher.

Kansas Citians are paying much more than they once did for public services. Residents often but not always are benefiting from that spending.

▪ The cost of taking showers and flushing toilets has more than tripled.

Residential customers 16 years ago paid an average of $30.82 a month for water, sewer and stormwater services, or $370 a year.

When the City Council approves the new rates that take effect May 1, customers will pay an average of $98.54 a month to the Water Services Department. That’s a whopping $1,182 a year.

Double-digit rate increases have been common in recent years to support a multibillion-dollar sewer project and to more aggressively replace water lines.

Both are needed investments in long-ignored infrastructure. For example, under Barnes, the council proudly kept water rates level for three straight years. That was good for customers then, but did not provide enough funds to repair water lines.

▪ Public safety budgets jumped, sometimes not for compelling reasons.

Voters endorsed a new sales tax in 2001 for the Fire Department and another in 2002 that set aside most of its funds for the Police Department.

However, too much of the fire tax was used to add an excessive number of firefighters to the city budget, forever strapping taxpayers with much higher personnel costs. The tax did pay for some needed upgrades and replacements of fire stations.

The second tax in 2002 also helped finance better police facilities. But too many projects have gone over their original budgets, such as the East Patrol and crime lab.

In 2010, the Fire Department’s hostile takeover of the city’s ambulance service added more employees and ambulance subsidies, expanding its budget.

▪ Voters poured additional money into public transit.

The biggest decision came in 2003 when the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority sought a new sales tax to replace declining state and federal funds, prevent drastic cuts in bus operations, and allow the agency to add extra services.

However, the ATA continues to be part of a fractured regional public transit system, which hurts passengers’ abilities to move conveniently around the area.

In addition, voters in a small part of downtown in 2012 approved higher taxes to build the starter streetcar line.

▪ The health levy went up, ostensibly for indigent care.

During a 2005 election to increase the city’s property tax, Barnes, Truman Medical Center leaders and others pleaded for funds they said would be mostly used to help finance health care for poor people.

Unfortunately, since then, city officials consistently have diverted millions of dollars a year from the health levy to support ambulance services and the Health Department. That has hurt Truman and other safety net providers, because their city support is down 19 percent since the 1999-2000 budget.

▪ Most recently, voters in 2012 approved a sales tax increase that helps fund the Parks and Recreation Department, freeing up millions of dollars for road maintenance and other uses. That election also eliminated a few small property taxes.

City Hall is not in the poorhouse. Taxpayers provide plenty of funds for public services. City officials must be extra vigilant in making sure that money is used efficiently before requesting even more taxes or fees from residents.

Monday in The Star: Why have taxes climbed so high in Kansas City?

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Taxpayer spending in Kansas City has climbed up, up and away."