Sedgwick County’s decision about zoo funding could be pushed to August

The Sedgwick County Commission will vote Wednesday whether to give itself until Sept. 1 to make decisions on funding for county-backed organizations.

Though the decision about timing has not been made yet, zoo officials are hopeful that the county’s consideration of a later timeline improves the chances that their funding agreement will remain unchanged.

“It gives them more time,” said Mark Reed, executive director of the Sedgwick County Zoo. “We’ll ... have a better financial picture of what the real reality is of the financial situation.”

Sedgwick County is in the process of considering all of its funding agreements because of a perceived deficit in the budget.

County Manager William Buchanan is expected to present a finalized 2016 budget on Aug. 12, Commissioner Jim Howell said.

The county currently has five-year funding agreements with the Sedgwick County Zoo, Exploration Place and the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition. A termination clause in those agreements said they can be ended by either party by June 1 of any year, to take effect the following January.

The Eagle reported last Sunday that officials with those three organizations said severing their long-term funding agreements would be detrimental to their operations.

“It’s sort of like if I told you ... no matter how good a job you do, your funding may be withdrawn next year,” said Gary Schmitt, chairman of GWEDC. “There’s no stability whatsoever. That’s why we entered into a five-year contract with the county.”

Howell said he thinks the amendment to the agreements’ termination dates will “probably happen.”

He said he has received about 25 e-mails from trustees of the various organizations that would be affected, and about 12 e-mails from concerned residents.

They “have encouraged us to take a position to rethink what we’re thinking,” Howell said.

Howell said moving the date to September enables the commission to consider if changes need to be made after an official budget has been adopted in August.

The zoo is currently 1.33 percent of the total county budget, Exploration Place is 0.53 percent, and GWEDC is 0.07 percent, according to Buchanan.

Commissioner Tim Norton, in a Tuesday blog post on the county website, said “Sedgwick County is not in financial distress.”

“I am not sure I know what the end game is for the commissioners that feel this is necessary,” he wrote in the post. “But I can tell you I am not in favor of dissolving these long time partnerships.”

Reed, the zoo director, said he thinks commissioners “might actually be surprised” at the budget figures to be released in August.

“Hopefully it’ll be eye-opening for them, that we’re not as deeply in a financial hole,” as they might now anticipate, Reed said.

The zoo’s current funding agreement includes a gradual increase in the next several years, from about $5.6 million in 2015 —a figure that will not change — to about $6.9 million in 2018.

Exploration Place received about $2.2 million from the county this year.

GWEDC is under an agreement for $300,000 annually for the next four years.

Howell said it is important to note that the county is “not singling these three out,” and that every county-funded organization received letters in the mail saying their agreements would be up for negotiation.

“There are no promises to anybody right now,” Howell said. “Everything’s on the table.”

The Sedgwick County Commission will hold its regular meeting 9 a.m. Wednesday on the third floor of the Sedgwick County Courthouse, 525 N. Main. Meetings are also broadcast on KPTS, Channel 8.

This story was originally published May 10, 2015 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Sedgwick County’s decision about zoo funding could be pushed to August."