KCATA’s struggling budget could lead to union layoffs

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, or , says that their expenditures in the next fiscal year will cost $3.7 million more than 2024's projections.

In a budget meeting on Wednesday, November 13, the authority presented a draft budget to commissioners that is leaving some folks with concerns about the service's future.

"Most major cities in our country have public transit system," said KCATA user Lisa Miller.

She relies on the public transportation system after getting in a car wreck.

"But it seems like they're trying to do away with all of our transit system and what are we going to do?" she asked.

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Miller says that she's already feeling the impact of the system's tight budget.

"Right now it's like 30 minutes to an hour before you can catch a bus. So, when I was taking it to work I had to leave like 2 hours before I had to be at work, in order for me to be at work on time," she said.

The transit system is funded by a three-eighths cent sales tax from Kansas City, Missouri. They also receive a portion of a one-half cent sales tax, but that money is used at the discretion of the city, and Nicholas Miller, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287 says, the funding from that tax has dwindled in recent years.

He said the lack of financing could lead to layoffs.

"What has been projected is about 160 layoffs perhaps," said Miller after the budget meeting on Wednesday.

"This is nothing that came overnight," he continued.

"So, there are probably several people that have been aware of this shortfall for a long time, and I believe has deliberately done nothing."

Lisa said that she's worried that layoffs will expand financial hardships across the city.

"If they do layoffs, first of all, the bus drivers lose out, they have a pretty good decent job, union. And then the riders lose out, they lose their job because they don't have means of transportation. if they get rid of it or cut it to where people don't have a way to get around, we're going to have more homeless and unemployed people," she said.

"We're walking through each department to get a better understanding of what the forecasted budget needs are for next year," said Reginald Townsend, the chair of the Board of Commissioners for KCATA.

"When it comes to the services and the cost of services, we all experience it in our own households. Today's cost of a gallon of milk is not the same as it was a few years ago."

He said that the budget has not been finalized, and said there would be revisions and time for public comment before it is finalized. He hopes the budget gets adopted in January.

"We want to do our level best to provide the best service we can within the confines of the resources that are made available to us," he said.

Nicholas Miller said that part of the problem is that fares are still free for KCATA services.

"You have more vandalism on buses and more operators being assaulted, and the quality of riders has changed as well," he said.

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He also mentioned that more funding from the city or even Jackson County could contribute to getting the service ready for 2026's World Cup matches in Kansas City.

"Right now it seems like the city as well as KCATA need to be working together to help build a more robust system," he said about the World Cup.

While the answer to the budget concerns is still unclear, some folks, like Nicholas Miller, say that the writing is on the wall.

"The city has to realize the importance of public transportation right now," he said.

"Get in touch with the councilmen and make as much noise as you can right now."