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RAYTOWN, Mo. -- One metro city is about to drastically cut its police force.

Budget problems are forcing the police chief in Raytown to take dire action.

This issue will be front and center when the Raytown Board of Alderman meet Tuesday night at city hall. The city is cutting $3-million from the police department’s budget.

In an open letter to Raytown citizens, Police Chief Jim Lynch laid out the cuts he will have to make due to a lack of funding. He plans to let 30 employees go – 17 police officers, 10 full-time office workers, and three part-time workers, reducing the total full-time staff from 77 to 50.

He is also ending all community activities such as the safety fair and coffee with a cop, eliminating all civilian jail personnel, and reducing the number of detectives on the force.

Fox 4 reached out to the Raytown city administrator, who told us the police department’s submitted budget would’ve eaten up more than half of the revenues the city receives from property and sales taxes. He said they are making cuts across the board – though none as drastic as those to the police department.

He responded, “Public Safety is absolutely critical; however, the Board of Alderman also recognizes the need to budget within the means of the current revenues received by the city…No one on the Board of Aldermen is pleased with this option, however an entity cannot sustain itself spending more than it receives.”

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