Here’s how Wichita, Sedgwick County plan to streamline some parks, recreation services

The city of Wichita and Sedgwick County are moving closer to consolidating some parks, recreation and cultural arts services, but not to the extent that some officials discussed last year.

Residents would be able to make reservations for the county’s three parks – Lake Afton Park, Sedgwick County Park, and Northeast Sedgwick County Park – or sign up for recreational programs through the city’s current reservation system, according to a proposal city and county officials heard Tuesday.

“Extending this platform to Sedgwick County will reduce confusion, eliminate duplication of systems, and make it easier for residents across both jurisdictions,” City of Wichita Parks Director Reggie Davidson said.

That also opens the door for the city and county to collaborate on parks and recreation programs.

Officials did not give a timeline for when those changes would occur.

Both city and county are also working on master plans to help guide what to do with their park systems over the next 10 to 15 years. The proposal called for those two plans to be combined.

“I think it does a lot of what we want. It doesn’t hurt services,” council member Dalton Glasscock said. “There’s nothing in here that I see that’s going to eliminate staff or eliminate resources. Really just streamline it for residents to be able to use better.”

The city and county have discussed consolidating parks, recreation and cultural arts programs under one department for years. Officials stopped short of fully consolidating their parks systems under one department to save taxpayer dollars, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

Streamlining reservations and other park services is unlikely to make a financial difference.

“I don’t know that there’s a huge fiscal savings note on this,” County Manager Tom Stolz said. “It’s a first step as we move forward on the conversation of this. It’s an efficiency step right now to collaborate and work better together.”

The discussions come after the city and county brought together a blue ribbon committee and other community leaders to look at how they could consolidate and reduce duplication last year.

“We recommend developing these financial models and the service models as quickly as possible,” attorney Harvey Sorensen, who was part of the community leader discussion, said. “We fully support the actions that are proposed to be taken today as a positive step with achieving our committee recommendations.”

Cultural arts funding

The city and county also discussed combining their cultural arts funding programs. The two collectively fund 50 to 60 organizations with direct dollars each year, with a majority of those funded by the city.

“There is some overlap between both bodies,” city Arts and Culture Director Lindsay Benacka said.

Money for cultural arts at the city and county will now likely be pooled together after Tuesday’s discussion, with city and county staff putting together a draft funding model.

“A joint model could align priorities and strengthen coordination between the city and county supported institutions, minimize duplication … and provide more consistent sustainable financial support,” Benacka said.

That discussion comes as both governments are talking about how to pay for arts and quality of life programs while minimizing the effect on property taxes.

County officials discussed last year an additional 1% sales tax to support programs at the Sedgwick County Zoo, Exploration Place and Intrust Bank Arena. City officials are also in early discussions about asking voters for a sales tax to avoid reducing city services amid a budget deficit.

Neither idea is likely to come to voters for approval anytime soon.

“As of right now, there’s no plans for another county sales tax,” Commission Chair Ryan Baty told The Eagle.. “I will die on the hill that we should be utilizing sales tax dollars for these venues.

“The reason being is because 25% of dollars that are generated via sales tax in this county come from people outside of the county that are coming here, participating in our economy.”