Kansas City, Mo. City Council meets to discuss city staff furloughs

This afternoon the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council met to discuss and decide whether city staff members will be asked to take furloughs.

The proposal came about due to financial strain on the city budget caused by COVID-19.

Proposed cuts are part of the city’s plan to cut $50 million from this fiscal year’s budget. No word has yet been released on the decisions made at this afternoon’s meeting.

On Wednesday, the city’s finance committee approved the proposal, moving it to today’s council meeting to be addresses in front if the full council.

If passed, the furloughs would save the city a little under $1.5 million, reports 41 Action News. They could have proposed to save $2.2 million but chose to exempt positions in certain groups such as the health department.

“The longer we don’t make decisions like when in April or March, deciding to go with a budget this year that was significantly higher than last year. When we decided to go and authorize raises this year, we not only impacted this year but next year and coming years, ” Fourth District-at-Large Councilwoman Katheryn Shields said at Wednesday’s finance meeting.