Here are the services Kansas City will cut because of COVID-19. More may be coming
Kansas City will cut more than $23 million from the budget officials passed in March, the City Council decided Thursday, despite objections from some members who saw the budget items as essential.
As a result, for example, parks and boulevards will be mowed less often, and tree trimming will be reduced. Customer service positions will be eliminated. City crews won’t be available for emergency sidewalk repairs.
“This could impact the amount of drivers available for snow removal,” an outline of the cuts said.
But the council delayed voting on further cuts, including furloughs for some city workers and reductions to recycling service.
Since the time they passed this fiscal year’s budget in March, City Council members have known they would likely have to return to cut it because of the economic fallout brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Kansas City’s fiscal years run from May 1 to April 30.
In March, budget officials told the City Council a “light recession” brought on by COVID-19 could mean cutting as much as $115 million over five years, but the council adopted a budget that added more than $40 million. Earlier this month, another budget official urged the council to consider furloughs and cuts to public safety in addition to millions of dollars in cuts members were already considering to avoid a $202 million hole by April 2026.
On Thursday, council members considered waiting for further discussion before voting, but that effort fell short under pressure from members who wanted to move forward.
“It’s not going to get any easier by delaying it any longer,” said Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, 4th District at-large, who chairs the council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee, which passed the cuts on Wednesday.
Some of the cuts — roughly 4.5% for most departments — were made through savings that naturally came as a result of the pandemic. Numerous events and conventions that would have required staffing were canceled.
Other cuts were deeper. Capital projects will be limited to “basic maintenance and limited emergencies.” Median maintenance will be cut, and Americans With Disabilities Act compliance won’t be done by city crews. Requests will have to be made to the city’s bond program.
Those crews and workers who handled sidewalk repairs will be transferred to vacant positions so they won’t be laid off.
Members voted 11-1 in favor of the cuts. They sent back to committee for further discussion a proposal instructing city staffers to come up with a plan to furlough for one week all city workers earning more than $15 per hour.
Councilman Brandon Ellington, 3rd District at-large, said he didn’t believe there were enough high-ranking positions or duplicate positions cut, only city services.
“We should be looking at our revenues, our incentive packages and how much we’re collecting from fees to ensure that we’re balancing the budget not off the backs of the people that work for the least amount of money, but ensuring that we’re cutting the heavy employees first,” Ellington said.
The Kansas City Fire Department faces some cuts, but will also be allowed to pull funds from the 1/4-cent sales tax voters approved in June for capital needs to make up lost revenue. The city also plans to increase its prices for ambulance services, subject to approval by a separate committee.
The Kansas City Police Department will see a 2.25% cut, or $5.4 million. The department has not yet outlined what positions or programs it might eliminate.
Still ahead is whether to reduce the city’s recycling program from weekly to biweekly and reduce mowing for vacant properties owned by the Land Bank of Kansas City. The committee stripped those out of the legislation Wednesday for further consideration.
Shields said the cuts had to be done unless the council wanted to spend all of the city’s reserve funds. She noted there may be less painful cost-saving options in the long run, but the city faces an immediate problem.
“That’s insanity,” Ellington responded.
He read out loud a few of the cuts, including an engineering tech lead position that is vacant. According to city documents, the cut would force the city to hire consultants to do inspections.
“That’s dumb,” Ellington said.
Councilwoman Heather Hall, 1st District, introduced a resolution to ask the city’s auditor to look at the occupancy and use of city buildings and evaluate the cost savings that might come from moving off-site city employees into vacant space at City Hall, renting out or selling city-owned office space or instituting a permanent telework policy.
That was referred to committee.
Ellington was the lone vote against the legislation. Councilwoman Teresa Loar, 2nd District at-large, was absent. The rest of the council voted in favor.
