City offices closed for Presidents’ Day

In observance of the Presidents’ Day holiday, City offices and 311 will be closed Monday, Feb. 20. Curbside trash collection will follow the holiday schedule this week.

Infrastructure repair plan approved by City Council; Residents will vote on April 4, 2017

The City Council on Thursday passed an ordinance placing an $800 million infrastructure repair plan on the April 4 ballot, seeking resident approval for a comprehensive capital improvements program. The program would use revenue created by issuing approximately $40 million in bonds each year for 20 years.

“We will repair existing infrastructure citywide and finally tackle maintenance that has been deferred for too long,” said City Manager Troy Schulte.

Residents will see three ballot questions, and each one must receive a “Yes” vote of at least 57.1 percent of voters to be approved.

Question #1 calls for approving the issuance of $600 million in bonds to repair streets, bridges and sidewalks. This would include trails, as well as create a city-funded sidewalk repair program that would eliminate homeowner assessments. Some $150 million would be dedicated to sidewalks.

Question #2 calls for approving the issuance of $150 million in bonds to improve flood control to prevent floodwaters from backing up into homes and businesses.

Question #3 calls for approving the issuance of $50 million in bonds to repair public buildings. This would include replacing the outdated animal shelter, in partnership with private fundraising, and renovating public buildings to satisfy federal ADA requirements.

A key feature of the plan calls for a complete change in the way the City repairs sidewalks. The bonds would create revenue to allow the City to pay for residential sidewalks repairs, rather than charging homeowners. The city would create a program to systematically evaluate, repair and replace sidewalks. The goal is to make it through two citywide cycles over 20 years.

The bonds would be repaid through a modest property tax increase. For a household with a $140,000 home and a $15,000 car, the property tax would average an additional $8 in the first year, rising to an $160 average additional payment in year 20, the final year of the bond program.

The Council also passed a companion resolution that outlines specifics of the process for prioritizing projects through the existing Citywide Five-Year Capital Improvements Plan, as well as the annual reporting requirements for the program. View a list of possible street and bridge projects submitted with the resolution.

Projects would be prioritized based on several factors, including those that: are shovel-ready, already in the current Five-Year Capital Improvements Plan, leverage grants or private resources, promote new development, improve public safety and/or address state or federal mandates.

For more information, please visit kcmo.gov/infrastructure.

City Manager, Mayor submit 2017-2018 budget to City Council; Focus on public safety obligations

Mayor Sly James and City Manager Troy Schulte on Thursday submitted to the City Council a fiscal year 2017-2018 budget that focuses on public safety as prioritized by residents through the Citizen Satisfaction Survey, and the City Council’s Five-year Citywide Business Plan.

The $1.59 billion submitted budget proposes increasing public safety expenditures by $19 million, or 4.6 percent over the current year. Public safety accounts for 76 percent of the General Fund operating budget.

“Public safety is fundamental to our city’s success, and a priority of our citizens,” said Mayor Sly James, “and we will continue to focus on innovative tactics for crime prevention in order to make Kansas City safer for all of us.”

The City of Kansas City, Missouri has a great deal of momentum, as measured by increasing citizen satisfaction with the city’s delivery of basic services, which is up 9.5 percentage points from four years ago. The City also shines with increasing population, national attention to successes such as the KC Streetcar, Smart City initiatives and growing economic development investments.

However, the increase in public safety spending outpaces revenue growth, which requires cuts in other spending.

“Fulfilling our public safety obligations comes at a cost,” said City Manager Troy Schulte, “The non-public safety portion of the budget will only maintain existing services with no significant increases in any other services or programs.”

As the City Council and residents consider the proposed budget, residents will also be studying the proposed $800 million infrastructure maintenance bond issue that is on the ballot April 4. Please note that the bond program is separate from this year’s Submitted Budget, which maintains annual infrastructure spending at current levels.

The entire proposed budget can be found at kcmo.gov/finance. This will include a line-item detail on funding recommendations for each of the City’s many departments and programs.

Residents are invited to provide feedback regarding the submitted budget by attending scheduled budget meetings or submitting feedback online through KCMOmentum, the city’s online town hall.

Council members will travel to three community locations for public hearings on the budget. Scheduled budget hearings are:

Saturday, February 18, 2017
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Mohart Multipurpose Center
3200 Wayne Ave.

Saturday, February 25, 2017
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Woodneath Library
8900 NE Flintlock Rd.

Saturday, March 4, 2017
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Southeast Community Center
4201 E. 63rd St.

Additionally, public feedback will be accepted during City Council budget deliberations. These sessions take place at City Hall, 414 East 12th Street, in the tenth floor committee room:

March 1, 8, and 22
Wednesday’s at 8:30 a.m.
Finance & Governance Committee meeting