As the Missouri and Kansas Legislatures wrangle over budgets, the Kansas City city council has passed one yesterday with very little conflict along the way.
The most extensive debate was on long-term bus system and streetcar funding as the council passed a $1.3 billion spending plan. It contains a healthy increase for youth programs, a bit more money for the buses, crime prevention, dangerous buildings and increases street repair money six-fold.
Mayor Sly James says it's a huge improvement, but “our only regret is that we don't have any money. It would be nice if we had a budget with an increase of substantial size so that we could do some of the things that need to be done. Unfortunately that's not the case, at least not yet.”
The mayor says the city is working on building the economy and keeping expenses down to improve that. The new budget keeps property taxes flat, but as expected includes about an 11.5 percent increase to water and sewer service.