KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Mayoral candidate Jim Glover said he has got the expertise to get light rail up and running in Kansas City.

Since voters approved light rail last year, City Hall has been trying to figure out how to pay for it and keep the current bus system runnng.

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported that one of the things voters did when they approved light rail is cut money off from the bus system. In 2009, Clay Chastain's plan shifts money from a sales tax that helps run the business to pay for light rail.

That shift of tax money leaves a giant hole in the bus-system budget. Experts are telling the city that federal light-rail money is not available for cities that do not have a good bus system.

On Tuesday, Glover told the Sertoma Club that Chastain's plan for a long rail line from the zoo to the airport with gondolas in Penn Valley Park won't get any federal money.

Glover said he favors some alternative mix of light rail, buses and a park-and-ride system will work.

"I worked in the Department of Transportation," Glover told Mahoney.

"Jim, that was 30 years ago. A lot has changed," Mahoney said.

"But I still know how to get the money," Glover responded.

But others, including light-rail supporter and mayoral candidate Al Brooks, are not even sure that federal money is there.

"I don't think we know that the money's there. Some cities that have light rail have already been cut back," Brooks said.

A third mayoral candidate said the city has to be careful with light rail.

"I am all for it, but we have to plan it out to avoid a lawsuit from Mr. Chastain and family," Stan Glazer said.

Chastain has threatened to sue if the plan voters approved last year is changed in any major way, which many figure will happen no matter who is elected mayor, Mahoney reported.