Kansas City, Mo – Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas today will deliver his fourth State of the City Address, previewing the Kansas City Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Budget, accomplishments from the past year, and priorities for the year ahead.

The Fiscal Year 23-24 Budget will be formally presented to the City Council tomorrow, February 9, during Business Session, followed by several public budget hearings to provide Kansas Citians an opportunity to weigh in on how their taxpayer dollars are spent.

Regarding Kansas City’s budget, Mayor Lucas said:

“To continue building a more walkable, sustainable, and green community, this year’s budget will include $5 million for sidewalk repairs, fund the expansion of the bulky item program, street and litter cleaning, $11 million for LED light conversion, and our new recycling carts.

“In too many instances, short-term rentals have brought excess trash, noise, and shootings to previously quiet residential neighborhoods.  The City will no longer tolerate a Wild West of unregulated short-term rentals on quiet streets full of single-family homes.  In our upcoming budget, we propose hiring six inspectors for AirBnBs and other short-term rentals to shut down those violating rules and in April our residents will be able to vote on two use tax proposals related to short-term rentals to ensure they are listed, regulated, can be located, and have to pay their fair share to keep our city safe.  

“In the next year, we will invest over $1.3 million in aid to those experiencing homelessness and $400,000 to help ward off evictions.

“We are also funding our Park Rangers program to ensure our public gathering places will have security to address incidents in or near our parks. These rangers will be trained in crisis intervention, and will help Kansas Citians experiencing homelessness connect with services, keep our parks clean, and will work with our police to keep all park-goers safe.

“We can never accept the status quo in violent crime, which is why I am proud to stand with Council and philanthropic leaders in our community to propose millions more in violence prevention funding for next year’s budget and $30 million over the next five years.  In 2014, Kansas City had only 79 homicides; now we regularly double this number. We have to and must do better. 

“In addition to the $30 million myself and Council have proposed for violence prevention through the Health Department, we are proposing a police department budget increase of $11.5 million for a total budget of $280 million, allowing for the hiring of more officers and more funding to hire and attract 911 call takers. Just weeks ago, Kansas City’s Council voted to spend an additional $19 million to improve KCPD’s technology.  Additionally, we are allocating $6 million to start the design process on a new detention and rehabilitation center to get violent criminals off our streets and to provide mental health services to those that need a second chance.”

Click here to view the State of the City Address.

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