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Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas is one of the five largest cities in Kansas. Kansas City and Wyandotte County have a unified government. Kansas City's population is 145,786.[1]

Grade2.pngA-
Budget Y
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Meetings Y
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Elected Officials Y
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Administrative Officials Y
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Permits, zoning Y
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Audits Y
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Contracts Y
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Lobbying P
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Public records Y
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Local taxes Y
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Transparency grading process

Website evaluation

Main article: Evaluation of Kansas city websites

This website was most recently evaluated on Feb. 25, 2013.

The good

  • Elected Officials
    • County commissioners are listed with contact information.[2]
    • Contact information for other elected officials including sheriff, register of deeds and district attorney are also posted. [3]
  • Meetings
    • Meeting agendas and minutes are posted.[4]
    • Agendas are archived to 2006. [5]
    • Meeting minutes are archived to 2006. [6]
  • Administration
    • Contact information for county administration is posted. [7]
  • Budget
    • Current budget is posted,[8]
    • Budgets are archived to 2003. [9]
  • Audit
    • Audits are posted and archived to 2001. [10]
  • Taxes
    • Property tax levy rates are posted. [11]
    • Property taxes may be paid online.[12]
  • Contracts
    • Bid and contract information is posted.[13]
    • Current bids are posted. [14]
    • Bid tabulations posted. [15]
  • Zoning and Permits
    • Building permits are posted. [16]
    • Zoning ordinance is posted. [17]
  • Public Records
    • Information on and a form to submit public records requests are posted.[18]
    • A Freedom of Information Officer is listed with contact information.[19]
  • LObbying
    • The public relations department describes its duties as including legislative lobbying.[20]

The bad

  • Lobbying
    • The amount of money spent on Taxpayer-funded lobbying is not posted
    • The county does not post membership in associations that lobby the state and federal government.

Public employees

Elected officials

2011 Board of Commissioners[2]
Name District
Rev. Mark Holland At-large, District 1
John J. Mendez At-large, District 2
Nathaniel Barnes 1
Brian McKiernan 2
Ann Brandau-Murguia 3
Tarence Maddox 4
Mike Kane 5
Angela Markley 6
Thomas R. Cooley 7
Benoyd M. Ellison 8

Administrative officials

The mayor of Kansas City, Kansas, is Joe Reardon. Wyandotte County's administrator is Dennis Hays.[21] Reardon won an award in 2011 for his work attracting Google to the Kansas City area.[22]

Budget

2012 Budget Revenues[23]
Source Revenue % of Total
Property Tax $76,404,818 29%
Sales Tax $38,917,810 15%
Franchise Tax $36,740,440 14%
Other Taxes $24,704,464 9%
Charges for Service $45,924,850 17%
Intergovt. Revenues $11,336,256 4%
Interest Income $1,858,100 1%
Fines/Fees $10,062,450 4%
Fund Balance $2,481,111 1%
Other $15,399,565 6%
Total $263,829,864 100%
2012 Budget Expenditures[23]
Area Expenditures % of Total
Public Safety $122,881,760 46%
Public Works $59,670,955 23%
Community Services $52,038,373 20%
Administration $18,402,791 7%
Judicial Services $7,391,591 3%
Other $3,444,394 1%
Total $263,829,864 100%

Retirement costs

The unified government has $180 million in unfunded liabilities for county employees' retirement benefits. The ratio of these liabilities to current payroll is 165.8%.[24]

Board of public utilities

Wyandotte County/Kansas City, KS, has $21 million in unfunded liabilities for the BPU pension plan, and $42.1 in unfunded liabilities for the BPU other post-employment benefits.[24]

Taxes

The 2012 mill levy for Wyandotte County/Kansas City, KS, is 81.396, up from 74.711 in 2011.[23]

Economic development

In 2011, Kansas City, KS, won its pitch to have Google select the city as the site of its new Fiber Project, whose goal is to develop super-fast internet access. Kansas City came out ahead of 1,100 other cities that applied, including Topeka, KS, which even went so far as to rename itself Google for a day in an effort to secure the Google project.[25]

External links

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau "QuickFacts," Accessed November 21, 2011
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 County Commissioners
  3. ↑ Other Elected Officials
  4. ↑ Minutes and Agendas
  5. ↑ Archived Agendas
  6. ↑ Archived Minutes
  7. ↑ Administration
  8. ↑ Budget
  9. ↑ Budget Archives
  10. ↑ Audits
  11. ↑ Taxes
  12. ↑ Pay Taxes Online
  13. ↑ Purchasing
  14. ↑ Bids
  15. ↑ Bid Tabulations
  16. ↑ Building Permits
  17. ↑ Zoning
  18. ↑ Public Records Request
  19. ↑ FOI Officer
  20. ↑ Public Relations Office
  21. ↑ Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas "Government," Accessed November 20, 2011
  22. ↑ Kansas City Examiner "KC Mayors Win OneKC Award," Accessed November 20, 2011
  23. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named budg
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 WYCOKCK "2010 CAFR," Accessed November 20, 2011
  25. ↑ CBS News "Google to boost Internet in Kansas City, Kan.," Accessed November 20, 2011
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