Lee's Summit finance committee backs cashing reserves to fund Green Street Market, vehicle replacements and public-safety radio upgrades

The Lee's Summit Finance & Budget Committee on Feb. 3 recommended using parts of the city's unallocated fund balance to cash-fund the Green Street Market project, set aside money for vehicle and equipment replacement and pay for radio microwave infrastructure that supports regional public-safety communications.

The committee heard staff detail the city's midyear finances and a set of staff recommendations for using available reserves. "We presented and the final audit for FY24 ended up with a $48,300,000, almost $48,400,000 fund balance," Donna Lake, assistant city manager, told the committee. Under the city's fund-balance policy, Lake said, keeping the general fund at a 35% cap would allow roughly $14,320,000 to be spent without breaching the cap; after previously approved downtown-safety items and other commitments, Lake said about $12.7 million remained available to allocate.

Why it matters: Cash-funding part of the Green Street Market would avoid long-term debt costs and preserve borrowing capacity, while funding the vehicle-equipment replacement program (VERP) and communications upgrades would address near-term operational risks.

What the committee discussed and recommended

- Green Street Market: Staff proposed applying $10 million in reserves to the Green Street Market project to avoid issuing about $10–$11 million in special-obligation bonds. Brianna Berchter, director of finance, said issuance costs would be roughly $130,000 and that cash funding would save the city about $4.8 million in interest over a 20-year timeline compared with issuing bonds. Lake said using cash would avoid adding an approximately $770,000 annual debt-service obligation to the general fund budget for 20 years. Committee members expressed support for cash funding the project to avoid interest costs while noting the city would still leverage tax credits and other planned funding sources for the project's remaining gap.

- Vehicle and equipment replacement (VERP): Staff recommended a $2.5 million infusion to the city's VERP to help meet replacement obligations. Berchter said the current VERP balance is "just a little under $2,000,000," which she described as low for a city of Lee's Summit's size. Committee discussion noted that commitments already placed (vehicles on order) leave an estimated shortfall of roughly $4,000,000 to meet previously committed replacements.

- Gateway monuments and sidewalks: Staff proposed $300,000 for two gateway monuments (east and south entry points) and noted a verbal commitment of $100,000 from the city—conomic-development partner to help match the cost. A $1 million allocation for sidewalk gaps was discussed but tabled for later consideration because public-works staff said additional funds do not immediately translate to additional construction capacity; the committee instead agreed to hold sidewalks as a lower-priority item while further work is done on VERP and other commitments.

- Public-safety microwave infrastructure: The committee recommended using public-safety sales-tax fund balance to replace microwave infrastructure on the city's radio towers. Lake presented a proposed cost of $2,965,000 for that microwave equipment, saying the public-safety sales-tax fund has accumulated about $7,000,000 in fund balance to date. Chief Travis Forbes described the microwave equipment as critical to the city's radio network and regional interoperability, saying the system "connects all the radio towers throughout the city" and is used by police, fire and other city partners. Committee members agreed the expenditure aligned with the public-safety-sales-tax purpose and gave consensus to proceed.

Other discussion points

- Contingency items that remain under consideration included a possible World Cup-related contingency, holding the Browning property for future use and further study of the VERP funding gap and timing. Lake said some items would be considered in the FY26 operating budget process.

- Timing and sequencing: Staff noted some fund allocations are intended to avoid bond issuance costs now but that remaining contingencies, tax-credit proceeds and capital budgeting decisions would continue to evolve.

Committee direction and next steps

Committee members asked staff to bring more detail where figures remain provisional (the exact VERP five-year funding need, schedule for Green Street tax-credit proceeds) and to prepare formal budget amendments for council consideration. The committee moved the related budget amendments to the full City Council for action during the committee's agenda vote sequence.

Ending

City staff will return to council with the formal budget-amendment ordinances and the committee's recommendation to allocate $10 million toward Green Street, $2.5 million toward VERP and $2,965,000 from the public-safety sales-tax balance for microwave infrastructure, while holding the sidewalk request for later evaluation.