After COVID-19 delays vote, Kansas City spends $3.5 million on fire protective gear
Kansas City will dip into its general fund to pay for more than $3.5 million in firefighter gear to replace old equipment, some of which is failing inspection, the City Council decided Thursday.
Council members voted 12-1 Thursday to approve the purchase, which will come from the city general fund. The Finance Governance and Public Safety Committee members had voted unanimously in favor of it Wednesday.
The expenditure was not included in the city’s fiscal year budget, which begins May 1. Officials had anticipated having an April 7 election to authorize a quarter-cent increase in the fire sales tax to cover the uniforms and provide more than $300 million for other capital needs, including station upgrades and new trucks. But Gov. Mike Parson delayed all Missouri elections because of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.
“This is something that despite the pandemic we need to do, but because of the pandemic we have to do,” said Councilman Kevin O’Neill, 1st District at-large. “I think the one thing we have to do is keep our first responders healthy and safe.”
If the sales tax passes in June, the city will reimburse its general fund.
Councilman Brandon Ellington, who cast the sole vote against the proposal, argued it should have been in the budget because Parson announced the election delays nearly a week before the City Council approved its budget.
“It’s extremely troubling when our finance chair presents an ordinance for $3 million … and tells us we have to pass it because the tax has been pushed back when the tax was pushed back before we did the budget,” Ellington said.
The council also voted unanimously to work with downtown neighborhood groups on providing portable restroom facilities and hand washing stations to help homeless people during the pandemic.
Councilwoman Andrea Bough, 6th District at-large, said 20 such facilities had already been placed around downtown, the Crossroads Arts District and the River Market.
Coronavirus is expected to hit homeless people especially hard because they are generally older and may have underlying health problems. Across the metro, organizations have stepped up to provide support to limit the outbreak.
