Lucas’ first mayoral budget adds police, free buses; plugs hole at convention hotel
Kansas City could put another 10 police officers on the street under a budget proposal offered by Mayor Quinton Lucas that includes funding increases in most departments at City Hall.
Lucas and interim City Manager Earnest Rouse laid out their priorities in a nearly 600-page proposal document submitted to the City Council. The council will spend the coming weeks studying and tweaking it before adopting an agreed-upon version of the budget in mid March. The city’s fiscal year starts May 1.
Aside from public safety, notable changes to the budget include funding to make bus fares free in Kansas City. The city also had to dip into its general fund to make up for a shortfall at the Loews Kansas City Convention Center Hotel. Lucas’ budget cuts some resources from economic development and incentive agencies, programs he has often criticized.
In a letter to council members accompanying the budget proposal, Lucas and Rouse said it focuses “on improving basic services and deferred maintenance while seeking bold solutions to our problems.”
“This budget reflects the priorities of our residents,” Lucas said. “It emphasizes our commitment to improving trash collection and repairing more roads. We have heard your concerns, and this budget shows our commitment to deliver excellent services to all Kansas City neighborhoods.”
Kansas City will have to dip into its general fund for nearly $4.4 million to support the Loews Kansas City Convention Center Hotel currently under construction at 15th and Wyandotte streets.
When the city agreed to a tax incentive package to support the hotel several years ago, it signed on to pay for several management and catering contracts through revenues the city derives from a hotel-motel tax. But that revenue hasn’t been sufficient. Receipts are expected to fall by $1.1 million this year, in part, because the city has redirected those taxes as development incentives for multiple projects.
Lucas said he and the council were “blindsided” by the gap.
“This isn’t a substantive debate that I’m having with choices of the past,” Lucas said. “I think Kansas City, Missouri, is better with the Power & Light District. I think Kansas City, Missouri, is better with the convention hotel … but what I think we need to make sure we do is that we explain to the public the full range of options, the full range of positives and negatives that can accrue from something we decide to do.”
The budget cuts $1 million from the city’s contract with the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, but it set aside $500,000 to pay the organization based on performance. It also reduces support for the Downtown Community Improvement District, which raises funds to clean and beautify the downtown area.
Police funding
Under Lucas and Rouse’s proposed budget, the Kansas City Police Department would receive a $10.7 million, or 4.1%, boost to its budget with $7.3 million of that to increase wages and benefits.
The rest would add the extra officer positions, fully fund an existing program that places social workers at patrol stations, and cover other equipment and operational costs, a program Police Chief Rick Smith called “extremely successful” in his department’s budget request.
“The city is experiencing an increasing number of violent crimes,” Smith wrote in his request’s summary. “Additional support is needed to tackle this epidemic and implement new strategies to be effective.”
Smith had requested an additional 30 officers, which would have required an increase of more than $1.4 million. He also wanted to retain three forensic specialists in the firearms section who were paid through a grant that will end in the next fiscal year.
In an email, Sgt. Jake Becchina, a police spokesman, said an increase in the number of officers would positively affect response times.
The number of sworn police employees fell from 1,427 in 2013 to 1,296 in 2016, according to police data. It then increased to 1,344 in 2018. As of last month, the department had 1,365 budgeted positions, which included 69 vacancies, police said. There were 67 recruits in the academy, Becchina said. The department expects to lose about an officer each week throughout the year to retirement.
“So we have to hire that many more to keep numbers level,” Becchina said.
Becchina noted the staffing request was not a “magic solution.”
“It’s not an overnight fix,” he wrote. “It really mostly serves to keep us consistent with numbers throughout the year.”
Kansas City has more police officers per capita than many other major cities, according to a comparison compiled in a recent memo by Jackson County Deputy Prosecutor Dan Nelson that was obtained by The Star through an open records request.
But it has fewer officers relative to its population compared to other cities with high rates of homicide, including Baltimore, St. Louis, New Orleans and Detroit.
While adding more officers may seem like an evident fix to crime, research is conflicting as to whether the total number of officers correlates with a city’s violence. Some say what officers do is more important than how many are on the streets.
A systematic review of dozens of studies over 40 years, for example, found “merely increasing police force size does nothing to reduce crime.” Rather, specific strategies — such as focused-deterrence policing and neighborhood watch programs — are more effective.
Budget items
In the budget proposal, the Kansas City Fire Department receives another $6.4 million, or 3.4%, primarily for wages and benefits. Of that figure, $2.6 million will be used to cover pension costs and $2.9 million will cover overtime. The budget reflects 15 new firefighter positions to match a federal grant.
The proposal does not account for a possible increase to the fire sales tax, which would yield the department more than $300 million over the next 15 years.
Voters will decide on the tax in April, after the council must adopt the budget.
Lucas and Rouse’s proposed budget trims numerous line items, including the Municipal Court and the Parks and Recreation Department. It eliminates the Office of Cultural and Creative Services and cuts funds previously given to the Film Commission, LaunchKC, KCSourceLink and the International Program.
Children’s Mercy Hospital protested a slash to most of its city resources, saying it was “blindsided” by the cut. Last year, the hospital received about $650,000. Lucas and Rouse’s budget would have cut $500,000 of that.
“This funding is used to care for the most vulnerable children in Kansas City including those who are victims of violence and abuse,” the hospital said. “We are pleased that the Mayor’s office has expressed a desire to resolve this issue expediently.”
Most of the new spending in Lucas’ budget comes from strong growth in city revenues, including the 1% earnings tax, property taxes and sales taxes. All told, there’s another $41.8 million, a 3.7% increase over last year, in those revenue streams.
The earnings tax, the city’s largest and most flexible funding source, grew by $21.2 million alone, a 7.8% increase over last year. The budget spends another $49 million, a 4.3% increase over last year. Roughly one-third of that went to public safety priorities, leaving $32.2 million to invest in other parts of the city’s budget.
The city plans to increase water rates by 2% this year. Sewer rates will rise 6.5%. Both figures are far below some of the double-digit increases seen in recent years because of the city’s considerable obligation to update its sewer system to comply with a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency.
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 2:02 PM.
