Ruling on KCPD funding sets police up for major reductions in next year’s budget

In a footnote on the first page of his ruling about police funding in Kansas City, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Campbell says politics weren’t involved in his decision to nullify $42 million in redirected spending for the department.

“This judgment is not a determination of the values of ‘defunding the police,’“ Campbell writes. “It is not a referendum on the chief of police, the mayor, or any other appointed or elected official.”

But of course Campbell’s ruling is highly political and deeply disappointing. It skirts over inconvenient facts to reach a conclusion that should concern every Kansas Citian who believes the people we elect, not partisan appointees, should make public decisions.

Instead, the judge has taken the disturbing position that once the City Council passes a police budget, it can make no changes to it, for any reason, without approval of the Board of Police Commissioners first, even if the spending is above the 20% threshold in state law.

In the ruling, Campbell says the city is prohibited from exerting “management and control” of the department. He neglects the police board’s own admission that the City Council can and does routinely “negotiate” over police spending in the spring.

Then, in a breathtaking bit of doublespeak, Campbell insists he isn’t ordering the city to spend in excess of 20% of its general fund on the police. State law says the city shall “in no event” be required to spend more than that.

Well, in no event except in this event. “This court has not required the city to appropriate a sum in excess of one-fifth of the general fund,” he writes. “However, once appropriated voluntarily by the city and certified by the board,” he says, the spending is no longer discretionary.

Campbell’s ruling is a mandamus. It literally requires the city to spend the money the way the police want. We expect an appeal.

At the same time, we understand and appreciate the road map provided to the City Council, and future councils, regarding police department funding. If this decision holds, the council should never — repeat, never — appropriate more than the statutory 20% requirement for police.

That means next spring, when the next budget is passed.

“I imagine the council will set the expectation that any dollar received by the department over statutory requirements must be negotiated and focused squarely on preventing violent crime in our community,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement.

The department will howl. But they will have no one but themselves, and Campbell, to blame: His ruling takes away any and all flexibility from the elected City Council and the mayor, except at budget time. No public body in its right mind would or should surrender a quarter billion dollars in budget authority that easily.

Next year, the city can allocate 20% of the general fund for police, and not a penny more. If the police board wants any additional funding, it can stand in line just like the parks department, or the fire department, or any other city function, and ask for whatever money may be available.

The department must also agree to allow the city to make potential revisions and adjustments to any additional funds, or no deal.

Judge Campbell had a chance to bring some sanity to the police spending controversy. Instead, he chose to ignore plain language that exempts City Hall from spending more than 20% of its funds on police. It’s regrettable and wrong, and should be overturned on appeal.

But it also provides a clear road map for 2022. The City Council must follow the directions.