Local Leadership
I am grateful to serve our community.
We are in a pivotal season for Sedgwick County. We need leadership to help improve our position economically while working to bridge the divide relationally. This community is our home. I want to do all that I can to make sure we are improving and fostering the best quality of life for everyone in Sedgwick County.
Common Sense Podcast
Welcome to another episode of The Common Sense Podcast. In this engaging conversation, host Ryan Baty sits down with Sheree Utash, President of WSU Tech, and Kelly Billefield, Superintendent of Wichita Public Schools, to dive deep into the future of education and workforce development in Wichita. Together, they discuss the transformative “Future Ready Centers”—a groundbreaking partnership between public schools and WSU Tech that’s providing students with clear pathways into high-demand careers, often graduating debt-free with both high school diplomas and technical credentials.
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Change for the Better
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Issues
Staffing Stability for Sedgwick County Government
With nearly 3,000 employees across 46 departments, the work being done by our employees is vital to the quality of life we experience in the community. Upon my arrival on the Commission, we were experiencing significant staffing shortages – particularly in public safety and public health. Aggressive and strategic adjustments in compensation plans returned increased employee morale and staffing stability. Today, we have staffing levels above 90% and our performance goals are all being accomplished. Strategic workforce investments have provided more effective and efficient services to the 525k people of Sedgwick County.
Homelessness, Foster Care and Behavioral Health
Every policy decision must find a connecting link to healthier families. Our community has made significant progress in several large scale community challenges. In homelessness, we continue to develop a long-term community plan with a focus on shelter, services, and affordable housing. We have worked collaboratively to reduce the negative impacts of a foster care system that is failing our most vulnerable kids. We have also invested into a new COMCARE CRISIS center that will increase services such as mobile mental health, 988 suicide line, medical detox beds as well as other strategic initiatives to help meet the growing needs of our community.
Development of the Northwest Expressway
Connecting K-96 to Kellogg through west Sedgwick County has been a discussion for 30+ years. This would spur incredible economic development, but the conversation had stalled as had cooperation amongst key stakeholders. I have worked to re-engage the project with KDOT, Maize, Goddard and the City of Wichita as well as helping to reestablish the NW Expressway Coalition. We now have more momentum in the project than what has been seen in over a decade.
Property Tax Reform
Increasing property taxes has become a painful challenge for many families and businesses. With nearly 50% of our county revenues being generated through property taxes, we aim to reduce the county’s dependency on this revenue source and provide relief to our community. In each of my budgets, we have found ways to reduce the property tax mill levy while also stabilizing core county services. As my #1 priority in 2025 and 2026, we will continue to reduce property tax burden through a series of strategic reforms and initiatives.
Modernizing Local Government
The cost of government continues to increase, and reform is needed to counteract the increasing costs. As we look across the county and our 20 city partners, I will advance plans to eliminate redundancies via more shared services, strategic partnerships, and functional department consolidations. It is time to modernize the local government model and in doing so we will find reduced costs and improved efficiencies. I will continue leading the conversation and building collaborative relationships.
“The government closest to the people, serves its people best”
– Thomas Jefferson
Success is Local
Success requires leadership that listens to the pulse of the community. Local government needs to be shaped by civility and collaboration in order to maximize the potential of our people.
As a business owner & pastor, I am excited to communicate our vision for Sedgwick County and demonstrate a plan that enhances quality of life in our community. These conversations will be focused on our economy, quality of life investment and the appropriate function of our local government.
Work in the Community
Here are a few ways we give back to our community with links for you to join in!
Love Schools
The heart of this organization is to pair local businesses with local schools in order to meet strategic needs and supply resources.
Foster Care Advocate
I have worked with selective organizations to help raise awareness of the foster care crisis in our community.
Firm Foundation Ministries
This organization provides transitional housing and reintegration skills training for individuals leaving correctional facilities.
The Mattress hub
We have strategically partnered with local schools and organizations to donate beds to children in need.
"This is uniquely us." There are models in other cities that prepare students for the workforce – that's not uncommon – but what's happening here in our community is unique and has gained the attention of educators and industries across the country.
I'm grateful for the leadership at Wichita Public Schools and WSU Tech that understands the potential of Future Ready Centers and are working to expand this model and the impact on our local families.
Watch or listen to the full podcast with Kelly Bielefeld and Sheree Utash on my website or find Common Sense with Ryan Baty at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you access your favorite podcasts. Link in comments! … See MoreSee Less
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I’m a proud Jayhawk, but this is pretty cool. I’m glad to see a real K State legend return home to coach his alma mater. Best of luck to Coach Klein!
…. Except when you play KU! 😂Announcing the 36th Head Coach in K-State Football history, Collin Klein.
📄 k-st.at/CoachKlein // #EMAW … See MoreSee Less
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Nearly 82% of kids in Wichita Public Schools live under the poverty level. Leaders from across our community need to understand this painful reality — and I believe Future Ready Centers is one of our greatest tools we have to break the cycles of generational poverty. From advanced manufacturing to healthcare and tech, this curriculum provides a pathway for students to get the necessary credentials and an Associate's Degree while still in high school, so that the day they graduate, they can walk into the workforce with high-paying jobs and benefits.
The impact on our families and our communities can be profound! Watch or listen to the full podcast with Kelly Bielefeld and Sheree Utash on my website or find Common Sense with Ryan Baty at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you access your favorite podcasts. Link in comments! … See MoreSee Less
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Happy Birthday Jim Howell – Sedgwick County Commissioner! We delivered a short, easy meeting for you to celebrate. 😉
Hope you have a GREAT day! … See MoreSee Less
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Enjoyed meeting with some really smart and caring AP Government students from Maize South High School today!
We talked through my role in county government, opportunities I’m excited about and some of the concerns I have in our community. They asked great questions and shared some of the things they personally care about in their own school.
I left so impressed and hopeful about our future. … See MoreSee Less
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Education is often said to be “the great equalizer” in society, meaning that the greatest catalyst for social and economic mobility is a good education.
In many ways, I believe that to be true and I’m a strong advocate for education, but I also see the challenges in today’s environment and the need for these systems to be more adaptive in meeting our modern needs. So, I brought in the two individuals in our community that can help shed light on all these questions and more, Sheree Utash from WSU Tech and Kelly Bielefeld from Wichita Public Schools, and we covered a lot of topics involving the state of public education, the role these two organizations play in supporting our workforce needs, and what opportunities are on the horizon.
It was a fascinating discussion that left me eager and optimistic. You can watch or listen to the entire conversation on my website or anywhere else you get your podcasts! … See MoreSee Less
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I’m glad to see these discussions around NW Expressway. This has been a concept in the works for over 25 years and there are a number of reasons why this project is necessary.
➡️ Safer, more effective transportation north and south.
➡️ Population growth in area is stressing the current road network and creating safety concerns
➡️ Pressure relief off of 235 and Canal Route
➡️ Movement of freight to and from SW Kansas
There is an economic, modernization and safety case to be made, but for me this is an issue of stewardship. There has been nearly $30M taxpayer funds committed to this project and now 40% of the right of way has been purchased. A project with that much investment of taxpayer funds deserves progress — and I’m grateful that KDOT has launched a new Major Investment Study to analyze feasibility and next steps.
No one expects a shovel to be in the ground in the short term.
We absolutely DO expect taxpayer investments to be honored and progress to continue.
⬇️⬇️ … See MoreSee Less
Efforts to get Northwest Expressway through west Wichita are renewed
www.kansas.com
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Property Tax Statements hit mailboxes this week. A few quick clarifications to common questions I receive this time of year — with some added commentary!
➡️ The County Treasurer sends out the bill on behalf of all taxing jurisdictions. After collecting tax payments, the Treasurer distributes the revenues to each taxing jurisdiction. That does NOT mean that Sedgwick County Government is the sole property taxing authority. We only control the budget and mill levy rate for the County portion of your bill. As you can see, your bill is made up of several different taxing jurisdictions — mine has 11 total including State, County, Park Township, USD 266, etc, etc. The County makes up about 20% of your property tax bill.
➡️ Property Taxes fund large portions of local government functions like public safety, roads, and schools. For the County, property taxes represent between 45% of our revenues to perform these services. The rest of our budget is funded through fees for service, state grants and sales tax. If I were starting the system from scratch, this would NOT be how I would draw it up. I’m not a fan of property taxes for a lot of reasons, but I also understand that they are reliable, stable sources of revenue for local governments that perform core services.
➡️ My job as a County Commissioner is to find a balance between our ability to perform core services with the cost of the services. If we get out of balance either way, people’s lives are impacted — lack of resources means poor public service outcomes, and too high of taxation to fund government means people are financially limited. That principle isn’t hard to understand, but building a budget that finds that balance is no easy task and it’s a job we take very, very seriously at the County Commission.
And now here is the opinion that frustrates some of you…..
Increases in property taxes the last 5 years are hurting our working class families and our people on fixed incomes. It’s a fact. Inflation in housing values has led to increased taxes and insurances, and when you couple that with general inflation in goods and services, people really are stretched.
Inevitably, I am going to get people messaging me that I’m a tax zealot that wants to defund local government. That’s simply not true. Yes, the County has lowered mill levy 3 years in a row and has reduced our dependence on property tax revenues. You can look at the County line item on your bill and see the difference between 2024 and 2025 levy and % changed. Also, yes, the County has invested in our services, compensation, and workforce stability — and every metric we measure has improved. We did BOTH.
That’s leadership. We CAN modernize local government while finding that balance between property tax reliance and effective services we provide. I will continue pushing, alongside my colleagues, for lessening our dependence on property tax revenues so that our people can find relief. They need it.
If you have questions about property taxes… I’m happy to help! … See MoreSee Less
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I first heard of Future Ready Centers in 2023. This partnership between Wichita Public Schools and WSU Tech offers hands-on curriculum for high school students in career-focused, high-demand fields. These students earn college credit tuition-free, and many are receiving job offers from some of our largest area employers the day they graduate.
I believe this model unlocks significant career and earning potential for thousands of students, and I'm committed to bringing more awareness of this incredible opportunity for our community.
Learn more details on this podcast episode that launches Monday, December 1st! … See MoreSee Less
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