Taxes, senior centers, DEI, Exploration Place: What to know about Sedgwick County budget

The Sedgwick County Commission opted to lower its property tax mill levy, defund its diversity, equity and inclusion program, and renew its contract with a public television station as it approved a $563 million budget for next year.

The adopted 2025 budget would drop the county’s property tax rate to 28.659 mills, or by about one-third of a mill compared with this year’s 28.988 mills. Even so, most Sedgwick County homeowners’ property taxes are to likely increase as property values across the county continue to climb.

The budget funds new positions in emergency communications, the district attorney’s office, EMS, information technology and others.

The commission weighed several budget amendments put forth by Commissioner Jim Howell aimed at further cutting the county’s expenses.

Many of Howell’s amendments, such as a move to transfer ownership of Exploration Place to the nonprofit that operates it, failed to receive support from other commissioners. Other amendments he dropped voluntarily, such as a proposal to transfer the county’s mill levy support for Wichita State University to the city of Wichita, meaning that tax would have shifted to Wichita taxpayers only.

One of Howell’s budget amendments cut funding for the county’s diversity, equity and inclusion program — which consisted of a single unfilled management-level position.

Another of his proposals that would have increased funding by $122,000 for seven senior centers was trimmed down by Commissioner Sarah Lopez to $61,000 for three senior centers but ultimately passed.

The commission also approved an amendment by Chairman Ryan Baty to add $80,000 to the budget to renew a contract with KPTS, the local PBS Kansas television that broadcasts the county’s commission meetings.

Those were the minor changes in the operating budget adopted Wednesday.

County cuts DEI funding

The DEI cut passed 3-2, with commissioners Baty and Lopez voting against it. Removing the DEI manager position from the budget freed up $99,692. The position was never filled but instead the funding was used to hire consultant Hicks-Carter-Hicks in 2022 and 2023.

“This is an unfilled position, and it is a position we thought we needed and has not been filled for awhile. The county has done a lot for DEI. We have training programs in place by HR. We have a strategic plan that references DEI, we have done a deep audit of all county policies and procedures, we have amended most of those to make sure they’re sensitive to DEI, and we have . . . we’ve moved mountains in this regard.”

“I think the county has done what they need to do for DEI right now,” Howell said. “I don’t want to continue to spend money for this position. I’d rather take a look at this five years from now.”

Tania Cole said 12 county employees make up a DEI council for the entire county. The DEI manager was the only funding the commission provided for the county’s DEI efforts, which started in 2020 and 2021 to diversify the county’s workforce and make it a more welcoming workplace for employees from various backgrounds.

“I think the DEI council could probably move forward, but there would be no budget,” Cole said. “So, I mean, they would just meet and discuss. . . . HR can do the work. But I see this work as very different from what HR is doing. These are initiatives to carry DEI forward, so I see this as — for our organization — this is about recruitment, retention and community relations for our organization, which is very different than what the HR work does.”

KPTS will still broadcast county meetings

The funding for KPTS came after its CEO Victor Hogstrom addressed the commission, noting the county has had a 40-year relationship with the station. He said the $80,000 expense for broadcasting the commission meetings was a matter of transparency and allowed the county to reach a different audience than the one that watches the county’s meetings on YouTube and Facebook. County Manager Tom Stolz had eliminated the county’s funding for KPTS from the budget.

“Right now, I believe the community is asking for transparency in government,” Baty said. “And as much transparency as possible. I don’t think that we can go far enough in transparency.”

Commissioners David Dennis and Pete Meitzner voted against continuing to fund KPTS, citing cost concerns and time constraints on the public television channel that prevent viewers from seeing the entirety of the county’s longer commission meetings, such as Wednesday’s meeting that lasted more than five hours.

More funding for some senior centers

Howell’s proposal to increase funding for senior centers would have bolstered funds for centers in Clearwater, Haysville, Oaklawn, Bentley, Cheney, Mount Hope and Wichita. Lopez’s substitute motion increased funding for two centers in her district — Clearwater and Haysville — along with Oaklawn, which is in Howell’s district.

Those had previously been identified as centers with the most need and that had performance measures that would have justified increased funding under a previous formula used by the county. Lopez said the Clearwater and Haysville senior centers have been underfunded for several years.

Clearwater’s funding was increased from $18,000 to $35,000; Haysville’s from $35,000 to $57,000; and Oaklawn from $35,000 to $57,000.

“I don’t have a problem with looking at all of these, but if all of these seven that have been brought up aren’t ready to receive that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to then give them that additional funding,” Lopez said.

Lopez’s amendment came in response to a move by Dennis — whose district had three senior centers that would have received more money under Howell’s proposal — to change Howell’s motion to instead give each commission district an equal amount to disperse to senior centers. Funding for senior centers in Dennis’s district was eliminated in Lopez’s motion.

“So you just put my district even further down from all the others,” Dennis said. “The imbalance is even worse than it was before. We’re going to completely disregard all the senior centers in District 3. I will not support that motion.”

Dennis was the sole vote against the change. He was also the only commissioner to vote against the overall budget, citing objections to the senior center funding, funding KPTS, a decision to continue paying a federal lobbyist and a move to shift funds away from the Northwest Bypass project that is severely underfunded but aims to connect K-96 near Tyler to Kellogg near Goddard.

What to do with Exploration Place?

Another area of contention was what the county should do with Exploration Place, an ongoing conversation by the county.

Howell proposed transferring ownership of the popular science museum building owned by the county to the nonprofit board that operates Exploration Place. The county has been also discussing transferring ownership of the building to the city of Wichita.

“It’s a jewel in our community. I adore and appreciate and am so grateful to have Exploration Place in our community. It’s a wonderful place to be and I love to visit there. I’ve got lots of grandkids that are there all the time. I’m a huge fan. . . . I appreciate Exploration Place, so I’m not trying to hurt it. I’m actually trying to help it. . . . I’m not advocating to defund them. I’m not advocating to hurt them.”

The county owns the building, pays the nonprofit’s CEO’s salary and contributes about $2.2 million a year to its operational expenses. The city of Wichita owns the land underneath it and Exploration Place Inc., the nonprofit, operates the museum.

Baty said the budget hearing wasn’t the best time to make a decision on which direction to go. Commissioners agreed to continue discussions.

“This is a difference of opinion at Exploration Place and here on the sixth floor and on the board of what the longevity of this relationship really looks like,” Baty said. “And we’ve got to reconcile that, so what you’re suggesting in a meeting after the budget — I am wholeheartedly in support of because we’ve got to sit down in the room and have a conversation and reconcile their expectations long term, our expectations long term, and make sure that we have a glide path that is acceptable to both.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2024 at 12:30 PM.