A public hearing on the Unified Government budget is scheduled at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 25, at the Commission Chambers, lobby level, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas.
The UG Commission is scheduled to vote on the budget at the 7 p.m. meeting Thursday, July 25, at the Commission Chambers, City Hall.
The UG administrator has proposed a flat mill levy for the UG budget, which proposes expenditures of $394.8 million. The proposed budget had $25 million less revenues than estimated expenditures.
The city’s mill rate is proposed to stay the same at 38.138 mills, while the county’s proposed rate is 39.011 mills. The city rate dropped by 2 mills each year for the past few years.
Assessed valuation was up 5.6 percent in the city and 6 percent in the county, and net property tax revenues increased about 4.4 percent, according to UG officials. Sales tax revenues decreased about 10 percent in 2018.
The proposed budget included unexpected costs for flood control, with $27.8 million budgeted for flood control and levee projects, according to officials. The Argentine, Armourdale and Central Avenue industrial district levee raise project received a $453 million federal grant, and will include the Argentine levee pump station and levee land acquisition, according to officials. An emergency wingwall repair project for Turkey Creek also is included in the budget.
According to UG officials, no employees are being cut currently with this budget, but the UG will be looking at positions that open up by attrition to see if they need to be filled. The proposed budget has a 2 percent cost-of-living increase for employees. About 10 percent was cut from contractual commodities and services expenses throughout departments in the proposed budget, according to UG officials.
The UG will be using some of its fund balances, if the proposed budget is approved, to make up the difference between revenues and expenses in the budget.
UG officials have said they have begun a priority-based budgeting project to identify where to make strategic cuts for the following year.
In the past few weeks, the UG has held budget workshops on a number of topics.
At the July 15 meeting, commissioners learned that Kansas City, Kansas, police body cameras are slated to go into use in spring 2020, according to Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief Terry Zeigler.
The body cameras were discussed at the Monday, July 15, Unified Government Commission budget meeting. Testing will be done on a group in November, he said. UG Administrator Doug Bach said it will cost $1.6 million to $1.8 million over a five-year period to implement the police body camera system.
Commissioners also heard a presentation about plans to upgrade building security in City Hall and UG buildings. The cost of the program will be about $1.3 million, according to officials.
The commission also heard a presentation on water pollution control. The 25-year plan could cost over $900 million, according to officials. The cost per year currently is about $13 million. The UG is in a proposed consent decree on the water pollution projects. Some of the projects are repairs, while others are new.
Projects that will be in the works in the future will include a sewer maintenance facility, a biosolids dewatering plant, Piper Creek interceptor, pump stations and Wolcott facility expansion. The July 15 meeting is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQyQq1z3BA.
At the July 18 budget meeting, the commission heard more details about special revenue funds. Some commissioners asked whether the UG could use funds that were in the special revenue accounts, and were told in most cases the funds had to be used for specific areas. This meeting is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXJjWEJR5Q.
To see an earlier story about the proposed UG budget, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/no-mill-levy-rate-increase-proposed-for-ug-budget/.
The budget is online at www.wycokck.org/budget.