Missouri again votes to increase Kansas City police funding

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Voters across Missouri are once again deciding on a big funding issue for the police department in Kansas City.

It’s Amendment 4. Voters decided on it two years ago. But in April, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered the state to run the vote again following a lawsuit form Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.

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Amendment 4 passed pretty overwhelmingly two years ago and amendment supporters seemed confident it would again.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled after the vote back in 2022 the ballot measure was misleading because it said it wouldn’t increase city spending. Now it says it could cost the city up to $38 million a year but also points out the city is already funding the department at what that new minimum level would be of 25% instead of 20.

Lucas has previously said the amendment hurts the city’s ability to work with police on creative solutions and is against anything that means more state control of local policing.

The Missouri lawmaker who first proposed the amendment in 2022 after the city had been looking to move millions in police funding into other crime prevention programs argues Kansas City has local control with KC residents on the police board.

“What the mayor wants is political control of the police department to rest within City Hall and I think the last thing we need is a bunch of woke politicians in City Hall defunding our police department. So I’m comfortable with the structure we have right now and I hope we keep it into the future,” said Missouri Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer (R-Parkville).

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Other than the mayor, the board of police commissioners positions are selected by the governor.

Another vocal opponent of the amendment Tuesday has been MORE2, saying they aren’t against police funding, but against people who don’t live here deciding how the city should spend its money.

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