Lucas blasts proposed Missouri oversight Kansas City's COVID relief spending
Jeanne Kuang and Steve Vockrodt, The Kansas City Star
Apr. 26—JEFFERSON CITY — Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas slammed a proposal Monday by state lawmakers to review cities' pandemic aid spending, the latest in a series of legislative moves that city officials say undermines the principle of local control.
The proposal was heard by the House Budget Committee Monday, as Lucas' administration prepares this week to outline how he wants to spend the first $95 million that the city has received from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan.
The bill sponsored by House Budget Chair Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican, would form a state oversight committee to look into local governments' spending of those dollars to root out fraud.