Why should KC taxpayers pay $450,000 for Missouri Senate’s unconstitutional behavior?
The argument over who controls spending for the Kansas City Police Department is about to cost local taxpayers real money — in this case, $450,000.
Missouri state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville has introduced a measure forcing Kansas City to spend 25% of its “general revenue” on police. That’s an increase from the current 20% threshold, which has been in place for decades.
Luetkemeyer’s bill is an outrageous intervention in city affairs. But it’s worse than that, because it also reclassifies exempt parts of the city’s budget as general revenue. That could include so-called enterprise funds such as aviation and water.
It’s basic math: If 25% comes from a bigger pot, the bill would cost the city tens of millions of additional dollars for police, at the expense of other needs. It would cripple virtually every other city service.
That reality has prompted Mayor Quinton Lucas to introduce a local ordinance setting aside $450,000 to hire outside lawyers to fight Luetkemeyer’s plan.
That $450,000 could go for lots of other city services. It’s beyond ridiculous that local taxpayers have to spend that kind of money to defend their rights from state legislators who think they know more than local residents.
Some City Council members are skeptical of the Lucas measure, because of the cost. We’re sympathetic to those concerns. In fact, we think the city should take the $450,000 from the police budget. Since the department is all too accustomed to paying legal fees for brutality cases, that would be nothing new.
There are many problems with the construction of the bill: It contains an emergency clause, for example. That’s significant: Without it, the bill would take effect in August. Luetkemeyer wants to raise police spending now, in the current city budget, which will be passed in March, so he needs an emergency clause.
An emergency clause requires approval by two-thirds of both the Missouri Senate and House. That’s an enormously high bar, given the divisions in the Senate Republican Party and the lack of a two-thirds GOP majority in the House. The bill may never make it to the floor of either chamber.
Here’s another problem: Luetkemeyer’s bill almost certainly violates the Hancock Amendment, which prohibits unfunded state mandates on local governments. And the senator knows this, because he’s introduced a constitutional amendment to repeal that part of Hancock.
He wants to allow Jefferson City to set police funding standards for every city in the state.
But the voters couldn’t possibly decide the issue until late summer — again, too late to impact this year’s police budget.
Tuesday, Luetkemeyer’s Judiciary committee recommended approval of the 25% funding level, and a statewide vote on Hancock. The vote on both measures was 3-1. No one from Kansas City is on the committee.
We’ve suggested a better approach. Luetkemeyer and his colleagues should abandon their anti-constitutional interference in the city’s affairs. The City Council should meet the current 20% funding threshold, then negotiate with the police board for additional funds if needed.
