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Funkhouser Holds Budget Press Conference

By Frank Morris and Maria Carter

Kansas City, MO – The Kansas City Council must vote on a final budget package by Thursday. The city's budget came under question when Mayor Mark Funkhouser criticized it as imbalanced and called for slashing tens of millions of dollars.

The current proposal doesn't go that far but does make some major changes, and Funkhouser told reporters Wednesday morning that the budget, though not ideal in his opinion, is headed in the right direction.

Funkhouser says, "I think we're beginning to turn. It's hard to turn a big government that's been going in a particular direction for decades. But we're going to turn it."

One area the mayor proposed cutting was funding for Liberty Memorial. Funkhouser suggested the National World War I Monument could be handed over to the National Park Service. But City Parks officials say in their talks with the federal agency that the National Park Service is not interested.

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