Sedgwick County commissioners have been involved in a series of meetings during the past week with department leaders, hearing about their funding needs for 2022.

After the past year of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, County Manager Tom Stolz says the county will face challenges next year with employee compensation, workforce and staffing challenges, and stressed operations in criminal justice, first responders and the mental health system.    Stolz said the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney and District Court are having workforce challenges and operational challenges with backlogs that the pandemic has made worse.   He said COMCARE, Corrections, EMS, Emergency Communiciations, the Regional Forensic Science Center, and Administrative Services have had difficulty in finding the proper workforce to maintain proper operations.   County agencies are also dealing with the aftermath of supply shortages caused by the pandemic and a scramble to recover as quickly as possible.

Stolz said staff will use a flat budget and limited resources to move forward in providing the best services for the community.  He said it will be the budget team’s challenge to deliver a fiscally responsible recommended budget to commissioners by June 25th.  Commissioners will then hold public hearings in July with adoption of a final 2022 budget in August.