Kansas City, Missouri – Voters in Missouri have decisively adopted Amendment 4, a proposal raising the minimum budget level for the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD). Approved by a narrow margin, the amendment increases Kansas City’s general revenue’s financing from 20% to 25%.
With 549,116 votes in favor and 48.8%, or 523,796 votes against it, the amendment earned 51.2% of the vote. Following a prior approval in 2022 that was revoked by the Missouri Supreme Court earlier this year due to errors in the fiscal note of the ballot, this ruling comes after Tuesday’s ballot now included the amendment thanks to the court’s intervention for a re-vote.
Though voters throughout the state are involved in the choice, Amendment 4 has particular effects for Kansas City, Missouri. This has underlined the special situation of the KCPD, which is rare in Missouri for not under municipal control.
Historically, the city has set aside a sizable share of its overall income for the police department—above the 20% mark in most recent fiscal years. For fiscal year 2019–2020, the city committed 26.3% of its overall income to the KCPD; in following years, it has regularly allocated roughly 25%. Approved Amendment 4 has now formally upped the minimum needed allocation to coincide with these numbers.
Apart from the main income of the city, the budget of the KCPD gets contributions from several additional sources like the pension fund, health levy fund, public safety sales tax fund, grants, and others. With the overall budget for KCPD at $318,701,913, 25% of the general revenue alone in the fiscal year 2024–2025 amounted to $229,620,197.
Reacting to the vote, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas remarked on the tight result and the challenges of navigating misinformation in the voting process.
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“Without money, without ads, and with only the facts and common sense, local control of local issues has played to a too-close-to-call election tonight in Missouri. Misleading voters, as the Missouri Supreme Court described it, got the vote passed by 500,000 votes the first time it was on the ballot. Telling the truth narrowed it to a virtual tie. I thank Missouri voters for their good judgment and look forward to presenting them with a future ballot issue that stands for local control in all of our communities,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said.
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This decision marks a significant moment for Kansas City and its governance, reflecting the community’s commitment to funding public safety while also highlighting the complexities of state and local control in Missouri’s political landscape.
