Police department funding question on Missouri ballot once again

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An amendment requiring a boost to the minimum funding requirement for the police department is back on the ballot a second time.

If the issue sounds familiar, it’s because voters statewide already decided on this in November of 2022. The issue passed easily. 63% of voters said yes. 37% of voters said no. Due to a fiscal note that the Missouri Supreme Court said was misleading though, Missourians wills be voting on this issue again.

The fiscal note in November of 2022 said there’d be no impact on taxes in the City, which is why voters get to decide on this issue again on Aug. 6.

“When you say that they have been funding at the 25% for the last couple of years that is probably true,” Republican State House Rep. Chris Brown said in an interview with FOX4 Monday.

Brown’s one of the lawmakers who helped pass legislation calling for the city to fund its police department at that 25% level as long as voters statewide supported it. The city’s the only police department in the state overseen by a Board of Police Commissioners as opposed to the city council.

One thing on the August ballot that was not on the ballot in November of 2022 is a new fiscal note, saying that this requirement could increase the city’s spending by more than $38 million a year. However, it adds that the city has previously voluntarily provided 25% level of funding before.

“Then the Mayor and the City Council wanted to take out 5% and drop it back to 20. That’s when everything went south,” Brown added.

FOX4 was not able to talk to Mayor Lucas Monday. One person who plans to vote no on this issue is Decarcerate KC Organizer Avery Jones. Decarcerate KC tries to reduce the community’s reliance on police and prisons.

“That kind of feels like retaliation, like kind of saying that, ‘okay, money’s taken out, so we’re going to say that money can never be taken out no matter what Kansas City decides,'” Jones said, talking about Brown’s stance. “I feel like if Kansas City did want more money to go to the police department, that should at least be Kansas City’s choice.”

Part of the reason voters statewide get to decide on this issue is because the city’s overseen by a board of police commissioners. A Spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office said it’s also because this is a proposed amendment to the state constitution.

A spokeswoman for the mayor says Mayor Lucas is willing to speak to reporters Tuesday after the Board of Police Commissioners meeting. They meet at 9:30 a.m.

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