Missouri voters approved Amendment 4, requiring Kansas City to spend 25% of general revenues on the city’s police department.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said “not so fast,” and is challenging the issue in court. The decision could result in either millions of dollars more, or less, for the police department.

Missouri Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, introduced both the amendment and a funding bill. He says the mayor is confusing the issues.

“The constitutional amendment did not specify a particular police department that received funding nor did it specify an amount. The mayor is trying to confuse the bill I filed with the constitutional amendment that was on the ballot in 2022,” Luetkemeyer said.

Lucas argues the bill and the amendment are effectively the same thing.

“That ballot initiative allowed that basically to be undone. I think it’s hard to say that there is not a fiscal impact on a city when we are in a city that has a running, in some ways, unfunded mandate,” Lucas said to Pete Mundo on KCMO Talk Radio.

Click on the video player at the top of the page to hear Sen. Luetkemeyer’s full explanation, plus his overall views on the legislative session.

FOX4 brings you 4 The People, with new episodes airing on FOX4 every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. and posted online at FOX4KC.com.