By Maria Carter
Kansas City, MO – Mayoral candidate Mark Funkhouser is criticizing City Hall for not being more open with the budget process. Funkhouser is the former auditor for Kansas City, Missouri. He says he had hoped to speak at a Finance and Audit Committee meeting yesterday, but no public testimony was taken.
Funkhouser: "I would be asking questions. I would be saying where is the five year forecast. How do we know we're going to sustain these huge additions you made to the budget?"
Funkhouser says if elected he would hold more public hearings on the budget. The city manager submitted a one-point-two billion dollar budget to the council, increasing funding for police, code enforcement, and maintenance. A public hearing on the budget is set for February 28th, the day after the mayoral election. Twelve people are running for mayor including five current city council members.