Mark Funkhouser for Mayor

Mark Funkhouser has served as auditor for Kansas City for 18 years. In that time, he has produced hundreds of in-depth reports on how the city works, each of which has offered practical guidance on how to make it work better.

Mark's outstanding work was recognized in 2003 when Governing magazine recognized him as a Public Official of the Year.

He and his staff have also been four-time recipients of the prestigious Knighton Award from the Association of Local Auditors, which honors the most outstanding work in government oversite in the nation each year.

2004 Knighton Award
Street Maintenance (PDF file)
Each year, surveys of Kansas Citians' level of satisfaction in their government reveal that their number-one concern is the condition of our streets. In short, they're not satisfied. This audit recommended that the city target two of the main causes of bumpy roads: uneven manholes and places where utility companies cut into the pavement and then resurface it. It offered real solutions, such as providing the city with the proper equipment, prioritizing street resurfacing schedules and strengthening regulations over utility companies that carve into our streets.

2003 Knighton Award
Controls Over TIF Expenditures (PDF file)
Tax-Increment Financing, or "TIF" is intended to encourage real estate development or redevelopment to reduce or eliminate blight and other adverse conditions in a specific area. The premise is that improvements to the area generate additional tax revenue, a portion of which is made available to reimburse developers for approved project costs. It is one of the largest and fastest growing expenditure's in the city's tight budget. But this audit revealed that the city has been grossly negligent in overseeing this process. From the audit:

[T]he TIF Commission has not established basic internal controls to safeguard, manage, and account for the public dollars for which it is responsible. More than $7 million in developer expenses approved for reimbursement by the Commission in fiscal year 2002 were either unsupported or supported with inadequate documentation...

In addition, about $416,000 in TIF-related bond disbursements made in fiscal year 2002 were not reviewed or approved by the Commission. More than $357,000 of this amount was unsupported by adequate documentation.

In fiscal year 2002, more than $1 million was transferred by the TIF Commission to the Economic Development Corporation for undocumented expenses. We also identified underpayments to Kansas City and Clay County totaling more than $3 million.

This audit offered 22 specific solutions to these, among them establishing an actual TIF policy, which has not yet been done, despite state law requiring the city to do so.

2000 Knighton Award
Emergency Medical Services System (PDF file)
From the audit:

The city’s EMS system is designed to provide a high level of care quickly. Most roles are well-defined and accountability mechanisms are mostly in place. The system would be strengthened, however, by integrating the Fire Department’s first responders into the system and by developing mechanisms for more system-wide evaluation, communication and coordination. We recommend:

Strengthening and clarifying the health director’s role as the lead responsible party for the system, including medical direction and oversight of first responders, and system-wide evaluation and coordination.

Investing in technology to link the Police, MAST, and Fire dispatch systems, and synchronize their clocks to speed emergency medical dispatch and provide for better tracking of system performance.

1997 Knighton Award
Street Resurfacing Program Contracts (audit not available online)
This audit revealed that the city didn't have enough controls over the private companies that contract to resurface the city's streets. It offered specific policy solutions that would help the city gain more control over the process and therefore ensure that the city's streets are being resurfaced in a timely manner, including specific documentation, inspection and bidding procedures.