Jackson County legislators reach budget deal, unfreezing money for key services
Jackson County is back in the budget business.
The Jackson County Legislature voted unanimously Monday afternoon to pass the county’s 2025 budget, allocating half a billion dollars to county offices and services, as well as to contracts and grants bringing funding to dozens of nonprofit organizations in the county.
After legislators first unanimously voted to approve any last edits on — or “perfect” — the final proposed budget, they proceeded to take a final vote to officially pass the budget without further discussion.
The new budget includes more than $10 million in revenue from taxes on marijuana sales in Jackson County. It also allocates additional funding for the County Counselor’s Office, the legislature itself and some county courts.
Costs of long delay
Monday’s vote, at a regular meeting of the Jackson County Legislature, followed a public hearing on the topic of the proposed budget. The courthouse was packed with residents Monday afternoon, many representing agencies or nonprofits impacted by the budget freeze.
Every speaker urged the legislature to adopt the budget, with some outlining immediate funding crises caused by the delay. The newly passed budget doubles available funding from outside agencies, primarily through grants, allocating a total of $6 million in external funding to Jackson County nonprofits.
Anne Miller, Senior Center Director at the Don Bosco Centers, which provides hot meals and support services to older adults in Eastern Jackson County, called 2025 “the most challenging budget year” in more than three decades.
“We’re positioned to continue to feed folks, through private funding also, but inflation of costs continues,” Miller said.
For some organizations, delayed funding has led to serious discussions of cuts and layoffs.
“Just because the money is not there doesn’t mean the need is not there,” said Bobbi Jo Reed, CEO of Healing House KC, an addiction treatment center in the city’s Historic Northeast. “It’s so important that we need to keep this work going. I’d hate to think what would happen if two hundred people were released back in the street today.”
Healing House, for one, has had to take out a “large loan” to maintain staffing during the budget freeze.
Several of the speakers at Monday’s hearing spoke of their organization’s reliance on funding from COMBAT (COMmunity Backed Anti-crime Tax) a quarter-cent tax administered by the county prosecutor’s office that funds violence prevention and substance abuse treatment initiatives.
Julie Donelon, president and CEO of sexual assault crisis center MOCSA (Metropolitan Organization Countering Sexual Assault), said that her organization has lost $20,000 for every month that the budget was delayed.
“It makes it extremely difficult to budget routine staff or plan any programming,” Donelon said. “If [funding] doesn’t come through or continues to be delayed, prevention and counseling programs will be terminated. Fewer youth will be reached.”
Recent sweeping federal funding cuts have added to the strain on some organizations waiting for money from the county.
Elizabeth Keever, the chief resource officer at Harvesters, said the county and federal funding crises have created a “perfect storm of challenges.”
The regional food bank lost significant funding in March when the federal government slashed several nutrition programs at a time when food has gotten more expensive.
“We’re doing everything we can to stretch a dollar,” Keever said. “While our partner organizations remain resilient, in order to be able to answer the call… we need to have continuous funding.”
County executive weighs in
County Executive Frank White released a statement Monday afternoon applauding the passage of the budget, which he described as a “major achievement that reflects months of hard work, compromise and an unwavering focus on the people of Jackson County.”
White vetoed the first version of the budget on January 9 after legislators passed it 5-4 on December 31, 2024. The amended budget, which was the subject of Monday’s vote, was formally introduced in the legislature in late May.
In a press release issued earlier Monday, White called on Legislator Manny Abarca to recuse himself from the budget vote, citing multiple court cases pending against Abarca after an escalating domestic dispute last week involving the legislator’s wife and 2-year-old son.
White wrote Monday that he feels Abarca should step back from the legislature and budget vote, reasoning that the proposed Jackson County budget includes funding for the family court system, where one of the cases against Abarca is active.
Abarca, however, attended Monday’s meeting and joined the unanimous decision to pass the budget.
“I remain deeply concerned about the implications for [Abarca’s] role in county government, particularly his involvement in decisions that may directly interfere with the institutions handling his legal matters,” White wrote.
