Sedgwick County Commission hears comments from public on proposed budget

After four hours of public comments on the county budget, one commissioner thought a chorus had emerged.

“Do you hear the people sing, singing a song of angry men?” said Commissioner Dave Unruh, quoting a song from the musical “Les Miserables.”

A majority of the roughly 50 people who testified before the Sedgwick County Commission expressed concern, and some anger, over proposed cuts in the 2016 recommended budget.

“I think we’ve heard a sense of restrained anger but genuine passion and concern about the quality of our community,” Unruh said.

It was the first opportunity for constituents to address all five commissioners in person on the $412.3 million recommended budget, which spends 3 percent less than last year.

The commission’s majority wants to focus on core government services and reducing the county’s use of debt. Commissioners are sharply divided over the recommended budget’s major goals, such as a proposed shift to paying for roads projects with cash.

Several people praised the budget changes as fiscally necessary and responsible.

“It’s come to the point where we do need to make some cuts,” said Shirley Koehn. “We are like people using credit cards to pay off the balances of other credit cards.”

But the majority of speakers asked commissioners to prevent or lessen proposed cuts to economic development coalitions, nonprofits, health department programs and cultural organizations.

United Way of the Plains president Pat Hanrahan said it was unlikely nonprofits and the private sector could pick up all the services the county proposes to cut.

“This is not a time for cutting, it’s a time for investment,” Hanrahan said.

Support for health, education

Members of the medical community criticized the proposal to cut about $780,000 from the county’s public health department budget.

“Their slash-and-burn policy is devastating to our community, and I don’t feel they’re representing the citizens of our community appropriately,” said Janet Wilson, who was watching the proceedings in an overflow room. She is a health navigator for Project Access, which helps provide health care to low-income county residents.

Project Access would lose all $200,000 in funding from Sedgwick County.

Several University of Kansas medical students spoke about the effects of potential public health cuts on patients and the medical community.

“I cannot be a quality physician without a strong public health infrastructure supporting me,” said Christina Bourne, a fourth-year medical student.

“With anything that happens, we want to make sure we’re being fiscally responsible but also make sure that we keep Kansas physicians in Kansas,” said Kelsey Witherspoon, also a fourth-year medical student.

Several people spoke in support of the Kansas School for Effective Learning, which offers GED classes to adults and at-risk youths. The recommended budget eliminates county funding for the school, which received about $84,500 this year.

“If you guys cut the budget, you will be cutting second chances for people like me that are on probation that have done wrong in the community that are wanting to turn around,” said Edward Wills, a 17-year-old who is taking classes at the school.

“The staff there and the students that go there have pushed me to go down the correct path,” Wills said.

Commissioner Tim Norton praised the school for helping at-risk people like Wills.

“The talent being wasted in our community is an abomination,” he said.

Neighborhood organizer James Roseboro suggested the cuts to education and public health could hurt vulnerable people in the community.

“The people we should be trying to help the most are the people that will be hurt the most by some of the cuts,” he said.

‘A different view’

Some speakers said county commissioners need to make difficult decisions to cut what some residents want but don’t necessarily need.

“At some point, we have to have the argument about essential and non-essential functions of government,” said John Todd.

Many taxpayers appreciate the restraint of the commission on spending, Todd said.

“The taxpayers cannot continue to give more and more money,” Koehn added.

Although most speakers at the public hearing Wednesday opposed the spending cuts, Chairman Richard Ranzau said there is mass support for a smaller budget.

“There are thousands of people out there who have a different view, and they will not be forgotten either,” Ranzau said.

However, others said the budget would cut cultural attractions and initiatives fundamental to the identities of Wichita and Sedgwick County.

“These people are volunteers giving their time to make Wichita a better place,” Martha Linsner said on behalf of the Wichita Arts Council, which could lose all of its $14,000 in county funding.

Dominic Canare said Sedgwick County needs to support the cultural assets that make it the place he loves.

“The drastic cuts listed in this budget do not represent me,” Canare said. “They do not represent the county I want to live in.”

Sandra Carlo, who will be a senior at Maize, said the county should increase its Sedgwick County Zoo funding by about $388,000 for keepers for the new elephant exhibit.

“It is of utmost importance to honor prior funding agreements,” said Carlo, who has been a junior zookeeper at the zoo.

Some commissioners said the zoo needs to be open to compromise.

“They need to partner with us and realize this is a tough economy,” Commissioner Jim Howell said.

‘I am not happy’

Tempers flared occasionally during the four-hour public hearing, the first of two scheduled at the Sedgwick County Courthouse.

Ranzau had a brief exchange with a representative from Spirit AeroSystems, the county’s largest private employer.

Suzanne Scott, Spirit’s director of global human resources, spoke against a proposed $100,000 cut to the Wichita Area Technical College, which Spirit partners with for workforce training.

“We rely on WATC. They’re a critical component of our talent pipelines,” Scott said. “We can’t afford to have the county working against us.”

Ranzau said Spirit recently canceled a building lease with the college. That created a $360,000 hole in the college’s budget at the time, according to county documents.

“I’m going to try to remain calm here, because I am not happy,” Ranzau said.

“Do not come in here and tell me the taxpayers are working against you,” he said.

Ranzau later clarified that his comments were directed at Spirit, not at Scott personally.

Spirit representatives said the main focus was to prevent the county’s cut to the college, not the prior Spirit action.

“We need our commissioners to show leadership and partnership with us as we try to grow our economy,” Sam Sackett, a Spirit spokesman, told The Eagle.

The Wichita Area Technical College would receive $693,000 from the county under the recommended budget.

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 6:35 AM with the headline "Sedgwick County Commission hears comments from public on proposed budget."