Kansas City Council Receives FY26 Budget Presentation and Priority-Based Budgeting Update – February 6, 2025
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Kansas City Council Receives FY26 Budget Presentation and Priority-Based Budgeting Update – February 6, 2025
The Kansas City Council convened on February 6, 2025, at 7:45 PM to approve the January 30, 2025 business session minutes and receive a detailed presentation on the Fiscal Year 2025-26 submitted budget. Budget Officer Krista Morrison, with support from consultants Micah (Gov Strategist) and Chris Fabian (Tyler Technologies), outlined the $2.5 billion budget, highlighted priority-based budgeting implementation, and discussed the structural imbalance. Council members posed questions about transparency, scoring methodology, community engagement, and timeline for hard copies.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The minutes for the business session of January 30, 2025, were approved by unanimous voice vote (all ayes). No other consent calendar items were noted.
Discussion Items
- FY25-26 Budget Presentation: Morrison presented the submitted budget, noting it is available online at KCMO.gov/budget. The total budget is $2.5 billion, with governmental activities at $1.7 billion (8.2% increase) and business-type activities (water, aviation) at $841.8 million (8.1% increase). General fund revenue is $790.7 million, with expenditure growth driven by personnel costs (including a 4% non-represented wage increase and collective bargaining agreements). The budget assumes a 10% vacancy rate and includes a $64.6 million drawdown from the general fund, but still maintains a three-month emergency reserve. Strategic investments include $1.4 million for legal dumping enforcement, $1 million for rental assistance, $1 million for emergency shelter expansion, $1.8 million for Zero KC homelessness initiative, $2 million for World Cup legacy projects, $12.5 million for affordable housing (year three of four via GO bonds), $1 million for entertainment district security, $3 million for Vision Zero safer streets, $4 million for LED streetlight conversion, $2.5 million for convention facilities, $10.2 million for ERP software replacement, $10.8 million for City Hall improvements, and $1.4 million for an HR investigations division.
- Priority-Based Budgeting (PBB) Update: Micah and Fabian explained the PBB framework, which aligns resources with the citywide business plan goals (inclusive growth, finance/gov, housing/health, public safety, infrastructure/accessibility). Over 100 general fund programs have been inventoried, scored, and paired with program insights and case studies for resource optimization. Fabian emphasized that the data does not dictate decisions but informs council judgment. The PBB process will guide future budget cycles, with the goal of addressing the structural imbalance (targeting the $64-65 million gap) through efficiencies, partnerships, new revenue, or service-level changes.
- Council Questions and Clarifications:
- Mayor Pro Tem highlighted the need for transparency and geographical diversity among independent reviewers scoring budget amendments. Robinson requested that reviewers reside in different city districts to ensure equitable perspectives.
- Councilman Raya and Mayor Pro Tem discussed the citizen satisfaction survey, noting the sample size decline (from ~4,500 to possibly 1,000-2,000) and asking for trend data. Staff indicated they are moving to annual surveys with larger samples.
- Councilwoman Patterson asked for explicit examples of how council goals (set at the Kansas City Museum retreat) translate into budget priorities. Staff committed to providing scoring matrix and examples on Monday, February 10.
- Councilman Curls requested hard copies of the budget earlier than the promised next Thursday. City Manager Platt noted the paper version would take time but acknowledged the request.
- Councilman Duncan asked about availability of citizen satisfaction scores; staff replied they are still finalizing and will share timing.
- Councilman Bough (Chair) and others discussed the public engagement schedule: three listening sessions (Feb 15 at Greg Klice Community Center, Feb 24 at Woodneath Library, March 1 at Avila University) plus online input via Speakeasy. Council members expressed concern about the tight timeline between the final public session (March 1) and the amendment deadline (March 5).
- Discussion on scoring: Council members sought clarity on who does independent scoring (department heads from outside the relevant goal area) and how public feedback is incorporated. Morrison confirmed amendments will be scored using the same PBB matrix, and council will receive instruction on Monday.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes Approved: Unanimous approval of January 30, 2025 business session minutes.
- Budget Process Timeline: The submitted budget is now online; hard copies will be delivered to council offices by Thursday, February 13. Three department budget hearings are scheduled: Feb 13, Feb 26, and Feb 27. Budget amendment A (administrative) and B (programmatic) deadlines are March 5, 2025. The council is expected to adopt the budget by March 20, 2025.
- Next Steps: Staff will provide the PBB scoring matrix and examples of alignment with council goals on Monday, February 10. Independent reviewers for amendments will be selected, with consideration of geographic diversity as requested by Councilman Robinson.
- No Further Action on Acting City Auditor: Mayor Lucas mentioned an email about a potential acting city auditor but no discussion or decision followed; the meeting adjourned without entering closed session.
Meeting Transcript
The meeting will come to order. Our first item for business is approval of minutes for business session of January 30th, 2025. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. So we're moved and second. All in favor, okay, by saying aye. Aye. Motion passes. We'll get a presentation on this year's budget. Ms. Morris. Right. Well, good afternoon, Honorable Mayor Lucas, members of City Council, and City Manager Platt, Krista Morrison, budget officer, and I'm happy to be here today to present Kansas City's fiscal year 2025 26 submitted budget. Joining me today and this entire budget process on the far right is Michael, um, excuse me, Micah Innermill. He's with Gov Strategist. Um Micah probably is not a stranger to anyone in this room. Micah has been with us since this city council took office and helped develop the new citywide business plan. So the business plan is the foundation for our resource allocation for Kansas City. So I'm really happy to have Micah on board as we now continue to work with a citywide business plan to align resources to meet the goals in that plan. Also with me today to my right is Chris Fabian. Chris is with Tyler Technologies, and Chris is the co-founder of Priority Based Budgeting and leading expert across the country in priority based budgeting, and he's helping support our implementation in Kansas City over two years. I also want to acknowledge to my right here the first two rows. If you all would not mind standing. This is the Kansas City budget team. This is a group of finance professionals, public administration professionals that I am lucky enough to work with every day. And they're the ones making this happen. Notice their faces. I think these will be your future leaders in the region, and um really grateful for the time that they spend in the budget office and appreciate their hard work every day. Um thank you all. I'd also like to thank our departments, our directors, and our fiscal officers. The budget is a citywide process. Our departments start in July of every year to bring this budget to you every uh February. Important to note is we started in actually April or May of this year because of our implementation of priority-based budgeting. So it has taken a lot of time, and um, I think time well worth spending that you'll hear more about ahead with our departments, but I want to thank them for their work, this budget, but every budget as well. And finally, last but not least, is our fearless leader in our finance committee, uh, our finance chair, uh, Councilwoman Boo. Thank you for leading the budget process, making sure that it's a transparent process. Everyone's voices are heard, um, understood, and I think you will see great progress ahead for language access this year, and I appreciate your leadership through this process. Thank you, Krista. Yes. So I'm gonna start off today just talking a little bit about the state of the U.S. economy and trends that we're seeing. Um, we have been talking in finance committee, and the last uh several quarters, we've been talking about um growth in Kansas City's revenue, but slowing growth. And we are not alone in that trend. Um, in fact, most major cities across the country uh due to high interest rates, housing costs, unemployment. We're seeing a slowdown of revenue growth across the country. Um I'm highlighting here some other cities, and this is on page six of your presentation. Um, this is some of our peer cities across the country, as well as some large cities. Uh Kansas City is not alone by slowing revenue growth, but also the increasing pressures we have on expenditures. Um Mayor Lucas in his state of the city today talked about Kansas City and its strong financial position related to our fund balance.
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