Sedgwick County Commissioners have voted to adopt a budget for county agencies and operations for 2025.
The budget totals $563.4 million, along with a $30.1 million budget for the Fire District and a $52.5 million capital program. It will provide pay raises for county staff and new positions for EMS, Fire and 911. There will be cuts to cultural arts funding and other areas.
Commission chairman Ryan Baty said the state of the Fire District is healthy and he wants to continue the momentum and maintain the competitiveness of the district with other fire departments in the county. Commissioners voted to approve a two percent scale adjustment in firefighters’ pay. Baty also said with the growth of the Fire District, the mill levy has been reduced from 17.8 to 17.0 mills for 2025.
Several residents urged the commission to provide more funding to the Senior Centers, saying that inflation and limited budgets have made it more difficult to provide services. The commission agreed to divert $61,000 from a contingency fund to Senior Centers in Clearwater, Haysville and Oaklawn. Commissioner David Dennis voted against that motion because it didn’t include Senior Centers in his district. Baty said no facilities in his District 4 were included, but there needs to be a look at the entire system next year.
The budget will exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate under state law, and if the county were to lower the mill levy to match last year’s budget amount, it would have to cut $16 million from the 2025 budget. Commissioner Jim Howell said there’s not enough room to do that, but the county will lower the mill levy so it doesn’t capture the entire amount of increased property valuations for next year. Baty said this will be the lowest mill levy in 27 years.
Commissioners agreed to sustain 2025 funding for Exploration Place and direct staff to have discussions with the museum about the future of the contract with the county. There are also plans for discussions with the City of Wichita about a partnership for funding the museum in the future.
The Commission also voted 4-1 against a motion to end a contract with the county’s federal lobbyist. Chairman Baty said he would favor talks with the City of Wichita and discussion on the future of lobbyist services. Commissioner David Dennis was the only yes vote, wanting to rebid for lobbyist services.
The vote to adopt the budget was 4-1. Commissioner David Dennis voted against the budget, voicing concern over Senior Centers and the removal of funding for the Northwest Expressway project along with the decision on the federal lobbyist.
Baty said it’s tough to balance services and taxes in working out a budget. He said the priority was staffing stability to provide good government services, but he believes the community has reached the limit on property taxes. He said the answer long term will be reform, finding more ways to share more services, consolidate redundant departments and find ways to offset property taxes with other revenue.
