Voters Approve Measure that Requires Missouri City to Spend More on Police

Missouri voters Tuesday approved a ballot measure to require Kansas City to spend more of its municipal budget on policing, reinstating a policy that had been overturned by the state supreme court.

The vote means the Missouri Constitution will be amended to require Kansas City to spend at least 25% of its general revenue on police, amounting to tens of millions of dollars per year, the Missouri Independent reports.

While it provides funding for the department, Kansas City is the only major city in the U.S. that doesn’t have local control of its police. The Kansas City Police Department is governed by the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, which includes the mayor and four members appointed by the Missouri governor. That means while the City Council writes the checks for the Kansas City police, they have no control over how funds are spent.