http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-929262.mp3
Kansas City, MO – The Kansas City city council has started the chore of Monday-morning-quarterbacking this year's budget - with an eye toward what it may face next year.
The council had to make spending cuts after the budget was approved this year, so the finance committee was eager to hear the implications of the latest revenue collection report.
Mark Thoma-Perry of the budget office told the committee that though revenue collections have increased slightly - less than three percent - the future is still very uncertain.
"Next year, then, we're starting from a lower base, and I do not see any revenue growth out of these core revenues. We're going to be back to where we were at the beginning of this year," said Thoma-Perry.
That would mean trimming maybe $25 million from what Kansas City expects to spend next year.
Thoma-Perry says that kind of savings will be harder to find because most of the obvious options for economizing have already been used.