A youth baseball league had the most number of speakers at the public budget hearing on July 28 at City Hall, Kansas City, Kan.
Three persons from KCK RBI appeared to ask the Unified Government Commission for help with funding or taking care of baseball fields in Kansas City, Kan. A $295.8 million UG budget is proposed for 2015.
Seth Estes Sr., a coach of two teams, said they needed the support of the community and the commission to finish rebuilding their fields. One of the KCK RBI fields is the old 3&2 field on Parallel Parkway. The league also uses UG Parks and Recreation fields.
Estes said the program helps youth and the community by keeping youth off the streets and keeping them supervised and safe.
Rich Devine said KCK RBI is giving hope to the kids in the community. The league has grown from 155 to 923 children in only about five years, he said. He added one of the KCK RBI teams competed in Milwaukee today and were champions.
A parent of a KCK RBI player said that her 8-year-old son plays baseball at fields including Quindaro Park, where the weeds and grass were very high this summer. She asked for better maintenance of the parks and also for help with the KCK RBI fields.
Appearing at the public hearing for Business West, Murrel Bland commended the UG for holding the line on property taxes. No property tax increase was proposed by the UG administrator for 2015. He said the mayor was correct in saying the current level will not be sustainable in future years.
He also commended the mayor for looking ahead and proposing a study of public safety. He encouraged the commission to look at expenditures of all departments.
Marcia Rupp, a neighborhood watch leader with the 46ers, thanked the UG for including rental licensing training, as she said there are some big problems with rental property. She also expressed support for public safety departments, which she said were the most important departments.
Dan Welch, a resident, spoke in favor of funding the parks and recreation program.
Chuck Schlitter, executive director of the Downtown Shareholders, said the board of the organization had met and voted to continue the same mill levy into 2015.
Heidi Holliday, executive director of the Rosedale Development Association, thanked the commission for continued support of neighborhood business revitalization groups. She asked the commission to restore the individual NBR funding to its pre-recession level of $30,000.
After the hearing, the commission went into another budget workshop to discuss the public safety budget.
