KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Councilwoman Teresa Loar tried giving the Kansas City Police Department an extra $5 million for the next fiscal year, starting May 1. 

“More police officers means safer streets,” Loar said during Thursday’s meeting.

Loar was referencing a former U.S. attorney general who spoke three weeks ago. 

“He continues to say cities around the country, when they finally realize that more police officers make safer streets, then violent crime will decrease,” Loar added. 

The council voted on that addition at Thursday’s meeting, but it failed. Mayor Quinton Lucas was one of the ones who voted against that extra funding. 

“When she presented that amendment and we all learned about that amendment the day of the meeting, it was not laid out what precisely that was going to,” Lucas said in an interview with FOX4 after the public part of KCPD’s Board of Police Commissioner’s meeting Tuesday. 

Lucas said the city will likely give $280 million to the Kansas City Police Department this next fiscal year, a 6% increase from what the department got last year.

He also said the city is funding the department at the now required 25% threshold set by the state after voters statewide approved Amendment 4 in November.

“Last year, we had a pledge that if we put that much money in, we would be able to fund over 100 new officers,” Lucas said Tuesday. “We have not quite seen that yet, but we believe our 6% increase again would allow us to continue to catch up on those officer numbers, which is so important for us.” 

Lucas also added the city’s already spending $20 million more than what it takes in, adding that the money for the police department outpaces almost every other department.