By Maria Carter
Kansas City, MO – Overland Park residents will get a chance to voice their opinions on the proposed budget for 2007. KCUR's Maria Carter reports.
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The $251 million budget represents an 11 percent increase over Overland Park's current budget. The extra money will go to add nine police positions, a property inspector, and some 30 positions for a community center, slated to open next fall. Budget Director Gena McDonald says those new positions are a response to citizen surveys.
Gena McDonald: Two of the areas where citizens really would like to see more resources going are public safety which we have reflected in how we have budget for 2007 as well as some traffic management issues. We also have actually made sure that we have funding available in our capital improvement program to address some traffic issues.
The budget proposal also includes slightly lowering the city's property tax rate, already the lowest in Johnson County. The public hearing will take place August 14th at 7:30pm in City Council Chambers. The city council must vote on the final budget by August 25th.