Where's My Money, Rick?
Dear Chief Rick Smith, where’s my money? Where is our money?
That’s the question every Kansas City, Missouri taxpayer should be asking the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and the Board of Police Commissioners.
Today, a Jackson County judge ruled in favor of the Board of Police Commissioners in their case against the City of Kansas City, Missouri.
A brief recap:
Kansas City, Missouri does not have local control over the police department. It is governed by the Governor-appointed Board of Police.
Kansas City, Missouri is obligated by state law to allocate 20% of its general fund (over $200+ million) to the police department but it has no say in its policies and has often in an attempt to decrease its extremely high crime rate allocated more than the required 20%.
Recently, given the poor results and lack of accountability of the department, a supermajority of City Council “reallocated” the budget exceeding the 20% required to a fund. This fund was intended to help the City Council have more control over the funds and do things differently.
The Board of Police Commissioners didn’t like that so much. So using Kansas City taxpayer dollars sued our own City Council.
Today, the Board of Police Commissioners won that case.
But the interpretations floating around is that this case was more focused on the timing of the budget reallocation. With the new budgeting process, Kansas City is not obligated to continue funding the police above the 20% threshold. So the victory might be short-lived for anti-government accountability advocates and the Board of Police Commissioners.
Here is a better timeline written by the Kansas City Star.
But creeping underneath the courtroom theatrics and the potentially more potent lawsuit filed by the Urban League’s Gwen Grant is the ongoing fact that no one knows where the Kansas City Police Department’s money is going.
In my estimation, the legal kerfuffle between the Board of Police Commissioners and City Council was ignited during a debate about the use of the federal American Rescue Plan dollars. Councilman Lee Barnes noted that the City Council consistently funds the police department at around 1400 officers but they never are fully staffed. He concluded, “where’s that money going?”
Indeed, Councilman, “where’s that money going?”
I wrote about this and the weird arguments by the Police Department in court: Is KCPD Lying Or Just Really, Really Bad At Budgeting? Maybe Both.
I unfortunately have to report that over five months since this line of questioning we are still no where close to answering that question.
The Kansas City Star published a story this last week about the police budget and the conclusion that disproportionate amount of funding is going to fight the outdated War On Drugs. That is an entire whole other issue.
But the story also highlighted the absolutely insane remarks from the Police Department’s Budget division about tracking funding.
Here’s the excerpt in question:
Okay…I want to re-read that section again. And maybe a third time.
Did you catch that?
In an email, Becchina said “nothing other” than that budget “exists to track and document funding.”
“It is posted on our website in its entirety for anyone to access,” he wrote. “I struggle to see how this shows a lack of transparency.”
Okay, what?
You mean to tell me that you run a $200+ million budget and you do not “track” and “document funding” beyond the general budget that gets approved?
Huh?
I have a personal budget and I am able “track” and “document funding.” I also like most people with budgets do not actually follow it 100%. I have to change and adapt. I also splurge on unnecessary items every once awhile.
But I also can track almost every dollar my household spends because it’s 2021 for God’s sake.
The single largest budget line item, the one that carries guns and enforces the laws, is saying in public that besides the budget they do not “track and document funding”?
If that is the case, then it is the biggest public accountability story in Kansas City and has been for quite some time.
This confusion was further illustrated when Councilwoman Andrea Bough inquired about the budget and funding confusion and ended up with even more questions.
New City Manager Brian Platt, copied on the email, responded “You are right to be confused — this is nonsense.”
The Kansas City Police Department has been battling mistrust and misconduct lawsuits.
With over 100 murders per year and an extremely below average clearance rate for solving those murders, they are also fighting the reality that they aren’t that good at their job.
Now, there is an increased focus on the fact that they are not at all transparent or responsive to basic questions about where our tax dollars go.
This would be less of an issue except for the fact that Kansas Citians are fighting for dollars to provide housing, transit, and other basic services to our neighbors most in need.
And yet, the Police Department begs for money for more officers but can’t hire the budgeted amount. Then, when 18% of the budget is reallocated, they say they will have to lay off 50%! of the workforce. I’m confused.
Where’s our money, Rick?
Chief Rick Smith and the Board of Police Commissioners owe Kansas City taxpayers answers. They owe us answers about their misconduct, their job performance, and now they need to answer the simple question of where are our tax dollars are going.
Where’s our money, Rick?
No one seems to know.
And that is a major problem.
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