Kansas City passes $1.73 billion budget, funds nearly $1 million for tenants office
Outside City Hall Thursday afternoon, underneath a ledge to shield from the rain, KC Tenants leaders chanted “our city, our money, our rights” as the tenant advocacy organization began a press conference.
Members of the tenant’s rights advocacy group gathered about a half hour before the Kansas City Council was set to vote on its budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which starts on May 1. KC Tenants had pushed city leaders to fund an Office of the Tenant Advocate in Kansas City.
When the council passed its budget, a $1.73 billion spending plan, it included $820,000 for the Office of the Tenant Advocate to help support rights for tenants. That brings the city’s overall spending on the Office of the Tenant Advocate to just shy of $1 million.
“This will be a victory for us at KC Tenants and it’s a victory for tenants across the city and not a moment too soon,” said KC Tenants leader Diane Charity. “We are not done. No, no no, we’re not done. Not even close.”
The Office of the Tenant Advocate is one of the few examples of new spending programs in the upcoming fiscal year budget.
The push for a tenant advocate at City Hall came into focus during a year in which the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on many households that were uncertain about making rent and where they could live.
Those economic consequences extended to other areas of the city budget, where large-scale cuts appeared likely early in the year as tax revenues buffeted by the forces of the global health catastrophe led to what appeared to be a $70 million shortfall when the budget was first proposed.
Kansas City officials sought to reduce the effects of the shortfall by spending down reserves, kind of a municipal savings account, to avoid layoffs and sharp curtailment of city services. Spending reserves is a risky proposition for cities, but city leaders saw no other way if they wanted to blunt the impact on employees while still investing in a few basic city services, like street resurfacing and snow removal.
Some planned cuts will likely be alleviated by a one-time windfall of $195 million to Kansas City as part of the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan that President Joe Biden signed into law earlier this year.
City leaders say the plan isn’t to fund much in the way of ongoing expenses with the one-time funds, but to backfill losses in tax revenues.
Still, a detailed plan for the spending hasn’t emerged.
But there are signs that it will blunt the cuts originally envisioned for outside organizations, such as the Kansas City Zoo, Starlight Theater and Liberty Memorial.
The Kansas City Council has already restored planned cuts to neighborhood organizations like Northland Neighborhoods ($85,000), South Kansas City Alliance ($65,000) and the Black Archives of Mid-America ($50,000).
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 6:07 PM.
