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City manager proposes $449.8 million FY25–26 budget; recommends shifting police and fire costs to sales tax funds
Summary
City Manager Zach Walker presented a proposed $449,784,680 budget that reassigns police and fire expenses into voter-approved sales tax funds, recommends a 3.25% COLA for nonrepresented employees, and schedules a public hearing June 2 and a final vote June 16.
Zach Walker, the city manager, presented the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget to the Independence City Council, outlining a $449,784,680 proposal that staff said stabilizes services while addressing a projected general fund shortfall.
"In accordance with section 8.2 of the city charter," Walker said, he submitted a balanced budget and asked the council to consider structural changes he argued would protect general fund reserves. Chief among the changes was a plan to shift police and fire department budgets out of the general fund and into dedicated sales tax funds (Proposition PD and the fire public safety sales tax), with the general fund providing transfers to maintain operations.
Walker told the council that without the proposed reallocation staff would need to identify $6.3 million in savings from roughly $23 million in non-public-safety spending — roughly…
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