Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the state budget for 2026 into law on June 30, but not before he vetoed more than $2 billion in spending that lawmakers had approved in May.
Part of that $2 billion — which brought the budget down to $50.8 billion included $300 million in general revenue items from the state’s operating and capital improvement budget bills, as well as another $211 million in spending restrictions.
“While we exercised veto authority to rein in unsustainable spending, we are proud to support funding for smart policies advancing our shared vision of a safer, stronger and more prosperous Missouri,” Kehoe wrote in a news release. “We believe this budget reflects our commitment to limited government, fiscal discipline, and a long-term vision to support public priorities.”
According to the governor’s office, the legislature’s version of the budget included almost $775 million more in general revenue spending than Kehoe’s proposal, money that the state’s worsening long-term revenue outlook could not fully absorb.
“We do not take this action lightly, but state government cannot spend beyond our means,” Kehoe wrote. “With current circumstances, the fiscally responsible and conservative thing to do is reduce spending and protect Missouri’s nationally recognized financial strength in preparation for difficult budget years ahead.”
The governor’s budget cuts came as governments and other organizations alike are grappling with federal funding cuts, with cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid putting future state budgets in peril.
Those budgets were already on thin ice after years of surplus spending decimated the state’s general revenue reserve. The surplus, once totaling over $8 billion, is projected to drop to a $1 billion shortfall in the 2027 fiscal year.
Line-item budget cuts in Kansas City
Many of the governor’s budget cuts affect statewide programs that serve the Kansas City area, including cuts to a new child care cost-sharing program, tobacco addiction prevention efforts and the United Way.
The governor also used line-item vetoes to cut nearly $35 million in funding for programs specifically serving the Kansas City area, including:
- $12 million for improvements to sewer infrastructure in Blue Springs;
- $5 million for the Keystone Innovation District to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in Kansas City;
- $3.5 million for a substance use treatment facility in Clay County;
- $2.51 million for Heartland Center for Behavioral Change to “treat and prevent opioid substance use” in Kansas City;
- $2 million for capital improvements to Metropolitan Community College’s automotive training program;
- $1.5 million for a new child welfare training center to support the “prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse and violence” in Kansas City;
- $1 million for the revitalization of the Lucile H. Bluford Branch library in Kansas City;
- $1 million for the Future Leaders Outreach Network to support nontraditional students and economically disadvantaged adults and their families in Kansas City;
- $100,000 for a mobile integrated health care and community paramedic program in Raytown;
- $1 million for Alternative Response for Community Health program to “connect community members to essential services” in Independence;
- $1 million for parking lot improvements at the Kansas City Zoo and Starlight Theater for FIFA 2026;
- $700,000 for the Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center’s Electronic Health Records Project;
- $500,000 for a diverging diamond interchange at Interstate 470 and View High Drive in Lee’s Summit;
- $500,000 for Great Jobs KC, which “assists high school graduates, young adults and career-seeking individuals in obtaining post-secondary education and job training”;
- $400,000 for lead and/or asbestos abatement at The Rabbit hOle, a children’s literature museum in North Kansas City;
- $250,000 for a STEM tutoring program serving low-income and underserved students in Kansas City;
- $250,000 for The Arts Asylum, a performance art theater in Kansas City, for theater renovations;
- $198,000 for Art as Mentorship, a support and mentoring program for young artists in the Kansas City area;
- $100,000 for the Palestine Senior Citizens Activity Center to “promote cognitive health, social interaction and overall well-being” among older adults in Kansas City;
- $100,000 for High Aspirations, an organization supporting Black boys “socially, academically, emotionally and spiritually” in Kansas City;
- $90,000 for a nonprofit providing career literacy resources to K-12 students in Kansas City to “expand pathways to economic growth and opportunity”;
- $50,000 for the I Am King Foundation in Kansas City to “educate, inspire and empower young men to become community leaders”;
- $36,000 for training Kansas City Police Department officers on “crime prevention through environmental design”; and
- $25,000 for Global One Urban Farming, which distributes free organic vegetables to seniors, veterans, youth and low-income families in Kansas City.
Reduced funding in Kansas City
For some programs and projects, the governor reduced the appropriation the legislature had approved by more than $7.5 million. For the Kansas City area, those reductions included:
- $2.5 million of $5 million for a several child care cost-sharing programs across the state, including one in Kansas City;
- $1.75 million of $2.5 million for a nonprofit providing pre-apprenticeship training for recently incarcerated people, young people in the Family Court Division system, veterans and others in the Kansas City area to learn skills and earn job certifications;
- $900,000 of $1 million for the Jackson County Community Services League to “partner with neighbors and collaborate on strategies that foster community stability and individual well-being”;
- $750,000 of $2 million for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for expenses and equipment;
- $500,000 of $1 million for the Kansas City Lyric Opera for infrastructure improvements to help “acquire or create additional operatic productions”;
- $400,000 of $2 million for a workforce pre-apprenticeship training program to prepare Kansas City-area women, young adults and people from marginalized backgrounds for careers in construction, information technology, culinary arts and food service management;
- $400,000 of $500,000 for Kanbe’s Markets, which distribute food to over 250,000 residents experiencing food insecurity in Kansas City;
- $250,000 of $350,000 for the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for expenses and equipment; and
- $100,000 of $400,000 for the Chris Harris Foundation for a sports enrichment park “that provides a supervised and structured environment for empowering youth” in Kansas City.
In addition to budget cuts and reductions, the governor restricted certain expenditures totaling more than $5 million. The Kansas City-area restrictions included:
- $4.5 million for a roundabout at a development near Kansas City International Airport; and
- $700,000 for road improvements in Sugar Creek.
Local reaction
Evie Craig, executive director at The Arts Asylum, said that when she first heard rumors that Kehoe was looking to cut $500 million from the state’s operating and capital improvement budget bills, she realized that “at that point, there’s really nothing you can do.”
“You don’t reach out to the government and say, ‘Please don’t cut me.’ We had sent letters of support for our appropriation. We made it through the two chambers, made it out of committee — we worked as far along as we could get, and at that point, you can just sit and wait,” she said.
The rumors were proven true on June 30, just two months after The Arts Asylum was told its National Endowment for the Arts grant had been terminated.
“I don’t like to use the word ‘victim.’ But in a way, you feel like you are a victim of, or are caught up in, ideological perspectives that have nothing to do with what you’re doing,” Craig said. “There’s a new administration in both the statehouse and nationally, and you’re just trying to figure out where the wishes of individual new executives are at.”
Staroyce Nealy, founder of Global One Urban Farming, called the governor’s veto “another kick in the butt.”
“But we’re used to struggling and being left out and being underserved, honestly. We know that there’s going to be a continuous struggle,” she said. “Things are just not getting any easier, so we just have to bear the loss and keep going.”
Nealy said she’d been planning to use the $25,000 her nonprofit was going to receive for seeds and tools, as well as compensation and training for the Kansas City youth she employs to work on the farm.
“We would have been able to increase our production by at least 30%,” she said. “We would have been able to distribute more free food from our donors out to the public — to low-income families, seniors, veterans and people in need.”
Craig said that for small arts organizations like The Arts Asylum, “there’s not a lot of designated funding streams … so these losses are huge.”
The $250,000 that had originally been appropriated for Craig’s organization was going to be used to renovate its theater in south Kansas City, where it moved in 2022 after COVID pandemic losses meant it could no longer afford to stay in its building near downtown.
Renovations since its move “have gotten it to where it’s a theater,” Craig said, but there’s still work to be done, including adding an orchestra pit and expanding the stage so it can support larger productions.
Craig said her organization is “communicating with our public” and sharing information about the state and federal budget cuts and their impact as it explores other funding sources to try to recoup what was lost.
For Global One Urban Farming, Nealy said that to make up the difference in funding, her organization is cutting back on spending, working to increase the amount of food it sells instead of giving it away, and “looking for local funding and not so much federal (or state) funding.”
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
