Leaders of some groups that get KC money now have limits on salary and where they live
Leaders of quasi-governmental entities that receive funds from City Hall will be required to live in Kansas City and earn no more than the city manager does, City Council members decided unanimously Thursday.
Mayor Quinton Lucas introduced two ordinances last month imposing the restrictions on director-level employees of organizations that receive at least 20% of their funding from the city, such as the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City, Visit KC, the Kansas City Streetcar Authority and Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, Commission. The council bumped that threshold to 25% on Thursday.
Current leaders won’t have to take a pay cut or move. Those hired or promoted into the position after August will be required to live in the city and can’t make more than the city manager. Former City Manager Troy Schulte was earning $220,000 per year when he left last year. Acting City Manager Earnest Rouse makes $198,000.
When he introduced the legislation, Lucas said the city’s budget trouble brought on by the coronavirus pandemic “highlights the need for us to spend taxpayer dollars as efficiently as possible.”
“These good-governance measures will help ensure leaders of all organizations funded substantially by the Kansas City taxpayer live in the same community they’re working to help build,” Lucas said.
He added: “By capping executive compensation, we’re helping to ensure Kansas City taxpayers’ dollars are being spent responsibly, and that any organization which receives a substantial portion of its revenue from the City abides by the same cost expectations we would have for any city agency.”
On the floor Thursday, he also said it was an issue of fairness. KC Pet Project has taken over the city’s animal shelter, but when it was run by city employees, they were subject to a residency requirement.
“By the transfer to a different organization, we — at least at this point — don’t have those same types of rules and requirements upon them,” he said.
At first, the mayor’s office believed the rule would apply to PortKC, which manages the Missouri River port and offers incentives for development, and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. But under state law, it cannot impose the restrictions on them.
