A public hearing on the Unified Government’s proposed $345.7 million budget is planned tonight.
The public hearing will be at 5 p.m. Monday, July 25, in the Commission Chambers, lobby level, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan.
Besides the UG budget, the hearing will be on the CDBG, HOME and ESG budgets.
After the public hearing, the UG standing committees will meet on the fifth floor in the conference room. A budget workshop is scheduled afterward in the fifth floor conference room after the standing committee meetings. At that meeting, budget changes will be discussed, and there will be discussion about the Public Building Commission.
After two budget meetings discussing commissioners’ questions and projects, the UG administrator plans to come back to the next budget meeting to show commissioners what would be cut in a budget with a 2-mill property tax decrease and a 3-mill property tax decrease. That was decided at the budget meeting on Thursday, July 21, on the fifth floor conference room.
The UG anticipates an extra $12 million coming in during 2017 as the sales tax revenue bonds at Village West are paid off early, and several projects have been proposed.
The original administrator’s budget, a total of $345.7 million, announced July 7, contained a 1-mill property tax decrease. It also built up some internal funds that had been depleted during recession years, and it would authorize purchase of equipment that had been delayed. The commissioners will be able to compare the three budgets before making a decision.
At the budget meeting on July 11, Police Chief Terry Zeigler requested $1 million for body cameras for police officers. The amount is equivalent to about 1 mill. There is a maintenance fee each year with the program. (For more information, see https://wyandotteonline.com/police-chief-requests-1-million-for-body-cameras-ug-commission-votes-to-set-maximum-mill-levy-at-same-amount-as-previous-year/)
At the budget meeting on Monday, July 18, UG commissioners discussed a property tax cut of 3 mills, and directed the administrator to develop a budget based on the 3-mill property tax reduction to see what programs would be cut.
They also discussed the capital maintenance improvement program for the Fairfax area, a quiet zone on K-32, improvements at Argentine Recreation Center, the John F. Kennedy Recreation Center; fire stations; courthouse security, accessibility issues for parks and the public pool; and equipment – personnel for maintenance of public spaces.
During the fire station discussion on July 18, Commissioner Mike Kane asked for a fire station for the Piper area. A representative of the firefighters’ union was allowed to join the discussion. UG officials talked about having a schedule to implement changes recommended by the fire study.
Officials said a labor-management committee is still in the middle of identifying the changes that will be put into place. Commissioner Kane noted that Piper had been promised a new fire station since 1990, but did not receive one. In that time, about 13 new subdivisions were added. “We pay a boatload of taxes and we get very little services,” Kane said.
At the meeting, UG officials said they needed a comprehensive plan, not to build one fire station at a time. The fire study recommended merging two fire stations in eastern Kansas City, Kan., and build one in Piper. There were other mergers recommended as well. While there are fire apparatus scheduled in the budget next year to replace old equipment, there is no money for additional fire companies in the budget, according to UG officials. As soon as there is an agreement, the UG can start building fire stations, according to UG officials. “We can’t afford a 2-minute response time, we can afford a 4-minute response time,” Mayor Mark Holland said. Building a new station and adding a new company was not in the proposed budget for 2017, the administrator said.
The mayor said the UG was on track to build a new fire station eventually in Piper. The UG currently is in negotiations with the union on the contract. He said based on savings within the Fire Department, the UG could start building two firehouses next year.
On Thursday, July 21, the UG Commission heard about $350,000 in an increase in the transit fund; services for Area Agency on Aging and state budget cuts; animal services; drug and alcohol fund; Wyandotte Economic Development Council, home repair funding; and revenues by fund.
The budget is scheduled to be adopted at 7 p.m. July 28.
To see more details about the Thursday, July 21, budget meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xxcGYvMhGo.
For details on the July 18 meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7mEI9DkzMo.
To see an earlier budget story from July 7, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-budget-proposal-recommends-1-mill-property-tax-reduction/.