KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The 2024-25 fiscal year budget for Kansas City has been set at $2.3 billion. It’s the largest budget passed by KCMO City Council in KC history.
All avenues of the city are seeing funds including Kansas City Police, other public safety entities, infrastructure and accessibility, housing & healthy communities, finance & government, and growth & development.
It’s also helping prepare KC for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Thousands of soccer fans will make their way to Kansas City for the FIFA World Cup.
It’s a big opportunity to show Kansas City is more than just BBQ and Jazz.
City Councilman Wes Rogers said the city needs to invest in itself before 2026 kicks in.
The council budgeted $5 million for the World Cup in the upcoming budget year.
“So we need to make sure that people can get from place to place, we need to make sure that it is efficient, we need to make sure that is safe, we need to make sure that it is clean, we need to make sure we have enough hotel beds, there is a lot that is going to go into making sure that people walk away from Kansas City as impressed as we are with our own city,” said Kansas City Councilman, Wes Rogers.
Tourism is also seeing a boost in the budget.
Visit KC is getting $2.3 million to help get back to pre-pandemic staffing.
Visit KC President and CEO Kathy Nelson said 2023 was a record-breaking year for hotels in Kansas City and they are seeing this continue in 2024.
She said with the success of the Chiefs, KC Current, conventions and large events, and even Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s love story, all are helping keep KC busy with visitors.
“Those are real dollars that get spent here in our hotels, in our restaurants, they are renting cars, they are flying into our airport, spending money that stays here,” said Visit KC President & CEO Kathy Nelson.
Nelson said they are also working to connect with more international travelers as the clock ticks to 2026.
There is also a push to bring small businesses support, something Rogers said has not been done before by City Council.
$900,000 is helping to build a structure for a tax redirect program dedicated to small business investment.
The Kansas City Small Business Taskforce is creating the program within the next year or so.
“Helping small business we’ve just never done that. So we are not reinventing the wheel here we are just catching up to peer cities who have been doing it better than we have for a long time. The idea would be to build these small businesses that will, in turn, pay employees well, they all pay taxes in the city, they keep us safer, it just makes us a better community,” said Councilman Rogers.
You can learn more about what else is included in the upcoming budget here.
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