Ranzau: Budget changes were needed, align with 'American values'

A contentious county budget process was as much a matter of American values as it was about dollars and cents, said Richard Ranzau, chair of the Sedgwick County Commission.

“We can give you a rationale for every decision that we made, and I have to say the vast majority of them should be made regardless of whether or not we had a budget deficit,” Ranzau said. “We were (cutting) things that were inefficient, costly and unnecessary.”

“We’re trying to restore core American values to Sedgwick County,” he said.

Ranzau outlined those values in a Friday speech to the Wichita Pachyderm Club, a Republican group.

“The county ... has moved so far left that we don’t even recognize core American values,” he said.

The final budget, approved earlier in the month, restored some proposed funding cuts to public health, economic development and commitments to the Sedgwick County Zoo and Exploration Place.

But the bulk of proposed cuts to health department programs, arts and culture commitments and city partnerships in the $412.3 million recommended budget stayed in place.

Ranzau, along with commissioners Jim Howell and Karl Peterjohn, have said the cuts were necessary given lower-than-expected property valuations. But commissioners Dave Unruh and Tim Norton say the cuts were largely self-inflicted by the county commission.

“This was definitely a manageable situation rather than a financial crisis,” Unruh said.

Unruh said Ranzau’s comment regarding how cuts should have been made with or without budget concerns indicated the cuts weren’t necessary.

“I think that’s an important comment and perhaps a verification that the changes in the budget were primarily by (an) ideological perspective rather than financial need,” said Unruh, who attended the Pachyderm meeting.

Ranzau said principles such as limited government, individual freedom, personal and fiscal responsibility were key to the county’s success.

“It’s about the individual. Don’t try and give me collective solutions to my problems because sometimes things you perceive as a problem really isn’t from my perspective,” Ranzau said, to applause from the audience.

The county became more financially responsible by no longer issuing bonds to pay for roads and bridges, Ranzau said.

“We’ll save more money in the long run and make our community even stronger,” he said.

He questioned whether it was county government’s responsibility to fund cultural and recreation groups such as the Wichita Arts Council, which will lose all of its county funding for next year.

Funding the Arts Council would have “completely disenfranchised” taxpayers who wouldn’t want their tax dollars going to that organization, he said.

More than $500,000 in cuts to public health programs was also justified, Ranzau said.

“We still spend $11.2 million in the health department,” Ranzau said. “We continue to spend millions on programs that don’t work because they’re politically sensitive.”

The majority of commissioners called those programs inefficient and unnecessary during the budget process.

“The current majority of the Sedgwick County commission does their homework and we don’t cut something off without at least investigating it,” Ranzau said.

Exploration Place could see cuts in county support in the future because county funding to the attraction was meant to be temporary, Ranzau said.

“If it was built on the premise it would be a zero operational subsidy, we should move in that direction,” he said.

American governments, at various levels, have strayed from the original intended scope of government, Ranzau said. He criticized various types of governments in history that downplayed individual rights in favor of improving the common good.

“I would argue that the common good is actually a myth, but nevertheless that was the justification, to do what’s best for everybody and the individual didn’t matter,” Ranzau said.

“The government exists to protect our individual rights,” he said. “Individual property rights are the key and we need to protect them as strongly as we can.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Ranzau: Budget changes were needed, align with 'American values'."