Kansas City Mayor Lucas announces millions to support city workers, programs in 2022
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas took a more hopeful tone in his third annual State of the City address Wednesday, focusing on accomplishments and budget increases, with little mention of the pandemic.
It was a departure from last year’s speech, which was heavily focused on spending cuts and the struggle to control the coronavirus, which has taken the lives of more than 1,000 people in Kansas City. Instead, Lucas focused on plans to bolster funding for infrastructure, city worker wages, housing, police and violence reduction.
“From once-unheard-of progress in Kansas City’s ability to plow our roads or fix our streets to generational change in how we pay our workers and support our public schools, we have seen not that change must happen, but transformative change can and has happened,” Lucas said. “That’s why, when discussing public safety and our unconscionably high rates of homicides and non-fatal shootings, I know that a change is gonna come.
Lucas pre-recorded his address at Southeast High School in south Kansas City, using the location to note Kansas City Public Schools’ recent recovery of its accreditation, which it lost in 2011.
A transcript of his comments was released to the media this morning. It will be posted online at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The proposed budget will be announced Thursday and must be approved by Kansas City Council before taking effect.
Increased wages for city employees
His proposed budget will include a 4% raise for all city workers. This comes after pay hikes were approved last year for members of the city’s fire and police departments.
In November, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, on which Lucas sits, approved a department operating budget of $281 million which includes money for pay raises, equipment upgrades and other improvements. The budget requires that $135 million of it to cover pay increases for sworn police officers and civilian employees.
Lucas was adamant that the police board ensure those funds would not be used to cover settlement claims and legal fees which had been the practice in previous years.
Infrastructure
Lucas highlighted progress by city workers in improving infrastructure and living conditions, including a street resurfacing plan and enhanced snow removal.
Between August and November, the city resurfaced 137 miles of lanes and made repairs to 272 streets, he said. Kansas City also launched a first-in-the-nation Zero Fare Transit initiative, which made city buses free and set a goal aiming for an emissions-free fleet.
These improvements came as the city continued work on the Streetcar expansion and the new KCI air terminal.
“But there is still critical work to be done to rebuild our roads, bridges, and sewers; increase access to public transit and broadband; make our city more resilient against the impacts of climate change; and invest in neighborhoods and communities that have been too often left behind by federal, state, and local officials,” he said.
This year’s budget proposal includes:
• An additional $5 million for expansion of trash clean-up, in part to address illegal dumping.
• About $3.5 million to secure dangerous buildings and address empty lots
• Funding to repave more than 300 miles of city streets over the next year.
Housing
Last year, pushed by a tenants rights group, the city promised to create more affordable housing opportunities through the creation of the Kansas City Housing Trust Fund and the Kansas City Housing and Community Development Department, which focuses on solutions to houselessness.
Lucas, who experienced housing insecurity as a child, has faced criticism from groups like KC Tenants and the Kansas City Homeless Union for not doing enough to protect those facing poor housing conditions or life on the streets.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the housing landscape in Kansas City to ensure no one has to wonder if they’ll have a roof to sleep under at night,” he said.
This year’s proposed budget includes:
- Funding for the city’s first Houselessness Prevention Coordinator
- $12.5 million more toward the Housing Trust Fund
- $2.5 million to support the Tenants’ Right to Counsel program
- “Millions more for rental and utility assistance for Kansas City renters.”
Safety and violence
In 2020 and 2021, Kansas City saw unprecedented levels of bloodshed.
In 2020, 182 people were killed in homicides, the most ever recorded in the city.
While homicides dipped in 2021 the city experienced its second-most violent year on record, with 157 lives lost, mostly to guns. So far this year, 16 people have been killed.
“I have promised before and recommit today: that every life in our city is special and I will never stop seeking every solution possible to save the lives of so many people, particularly young people, slaughtered in our streets.”
Last week, Marvia Jones, a violence prevention specialist, was announced as the city’s new Health Director.
Lucas pointed to the police department as a key player in violence reduction.
“I do not now nor have I ever believed in abolishing the police or defunding the police,” Lucas said. “But, I do believe in accountability to ensure the civilian police commissioners appointed by Governor Mike Parson invest in proven crime fighting strategies, pay our officers and their families fair wages, and see the Department as responsive not to Jefferson City political interests, but to our residents and our taxpayers who know the crime on our streets all too well.”
Last year, Lucas’s proposed budget included nearly $12 million in cuts to police spending, a decision he blamed on Congress’ failure to help local governments with revenue losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, his proposal allocates about $42 million in additional funding for KCPD, more than what is currently required (the state mandates at least 20% of general revenues be set aside for the law enforcement.) The money would be allocated toward:
- Hiring an additional 150 police officers in the next year.
- Pay raises for all officers and department staff
- $12.4 million for positions that help prevent and address violent crime.
- $6.6 million for pay raises to those fielding 911 calls.
- More funding for community policing, including support for the Westside Community Action Network.
- A re-investment in Aim4Peace, the city’s only viable community-level prevention program.
- Increased funding to expand the youth counseling and mentorship programs “Becoming a Man” and “Working on Womanhood” into more schools.
“I think often that the greatest thing we can do in government is not some magic solution to all that ails us in society, but to support people where they are,” Lucas said in his speech.
“To give that father some extra pay so he can take care of his family; to help another parent rebuild their life with safe and stable housing; to help a returning citizen start a business or get an education; to pick up trash in the neighborhood so folks know the City respects them; or to help that young man walk his neighborhood without fear.”
The Star’s Glenn E. Rice contributed.
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 11:09 AM.
