City’s $2.5 billion budget for 2026-27 revealed to south Kansas City audience

By Ben McCarthy

Attendees of the public meeting at Ruskin High School on Feb. 23 got a more in-depth look at the City’s 2026-2027 fiscal year budget. The proposed budget of $2.5 billion, which matches last year’s record setting figure, was presented to the crowd of nearly 100 residents by new Deputy Director of Finance Brenton Siverly. Mayor Quinton Lucas and City Manager Mario Vasquez, who were both in attendance, previously presented the proposed 938-page budget to the city council for review on Feb. 12. 

Siverly, who was named in June 2025 to lead the city’s Budget and Revenue Divisions, outlined the spending breakdown, focusing his 15-minute presentation on many safety and transportation items throughout the budget, but also touching on topics that ranged from $250,000 for “free trees” to $5 million for capital improvements at the T-Mobile Center. After Siverly’s presentation, the meeting opened up to about 40 minutes of public comments, many of which featured concerns about the perceived cuts to the Violence Prevention Fund. 

Launched in 2023, The City Council approved $30 million to be spent over five years towards community-based violence prevention (the spending, and non-spending of those funds have also been under scrutiny since 2024). The Violence Prevention Fund now faces $6 million in cuts in order to help fund increased allocations to the Kansas City Police Department, specifically for overtime pay compensation.

Denetra Pouncil and Diane Hershberger were two of the many speakers and attendees who objected to the cuts. 

“It’s unacceptable that (the fund) is subject to these continuous cuts,” Pouncil said. 

KCPD will receive $331 million, roughly 27% of the general fund (Kansas City is required by Missouri law to distribute at least 25% of all its spending toward the state-controlled police department), with $11.1 million earmarked for increased compensation for extra pay period (and higher health insurance costs). Another $4.2 million will be used toward the hiring of: 50 new police officers, 10 dispatchers, and 10 call takers. 

The $2.5 billion proposed budget also garnered a number of public comments from members of the Sunrise Movement KC, whose advocacy focused on a demand for permanent, free busing. RideKC’s free busing comes to an end later this year, with a $2 fare taking effect on June 1.

$77.8 million is earmarked to support regional transportation funding for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. In addition, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $100 million bill last month to help Kansas City and the ten other 2026 FIFA World Cup host cities cover costs for their respective transit agencies. Last week,  Representative Emanuel Cleaver hosted a press conference saying Kansas City would receive nearly $80 million in federal funding for transportation and security infrastructure needs ahead of the World Cup.  

The T-Mobile Center, which opened in 2007, will get $5 million for capital improvements to include audio/visual and IT equipment upgrades, a security system replacement and other general building deferred maintenance. 

Siverly also outlined other expenditures, including $26.3 million for the new Department of Community Safety, $42.1 million for trash and recycling, $5.7 million for snow removal and $1.5 million for the demolition of “dangerous buildings.” 

The city boasted that the proposed budget is carrying an operating deficit of $54.9 million for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 after the initial forecast to the City Council in October estimated this year’s deficit would be closer to $100 million. The new budget deficit would also be $22.5 million lower than last year’s Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget deficit.  Siverly said the City would also discover $8.2 million in savings from implementing Enterprise Resource Planning software to create new “financial and HR related efficiencies.”

The largest single expenditure in the city budget is personnel costs totaling $935 million. Public safety, the most-funded goal area of the budget, will cost $733.9 million. 

The general fund revenues will total $833 million this year, with the earning tax (1% for all those working within KCMO city limits) accounting for 44% of those revenues. Siverly said the earnings tax was up for renewal in May, but was corrected at the end of the night by Mayor Lucas, who pointed out that its renewal was actually part of the April 7 election. 

“I encourage you all to vote but won’t tell you what to do,” Lucas said. 

He pivoted quickly to say the earnings tax and its vote in April was critical to a “generation of funds.”

The budget will be finalized next month. 

The next public meetings are scheduled for Monday, March 2, at the Guadalupe Community Center (6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.), and Saturday, March 7, at Winnetonka High School (9 a.m. until noon).