District Attorney Mark Dupree told the Unified Government Board of Commissioners at an Aug. 14 budget workshop that his office prosecutes felony cases and many misdemeanors across Wyandotte County and that recent recruiting gains had restored much of the staff the office lacked a few years ago.
Dupree said the DA's office now represents nine local policing agencies and performs a high-volume caseload, including violent crimes that require experienced prosecutors. "This office, according to the budget numbers, make up 9% of the county budget," he said, and stressed the workload that claim represents.
What the request covers: the DA's 2026 presentation showed a proposed county budget for the office of about $8.8 million. The presentation and Dupree's remarks attributed a $760,000 2026 personnel increase to a 2024 reorganization that created clearer career levels for non-attorney legal support staff and to reinstating positions that had been vacant. Dupree said the increase reflects filled positions and retention steps; he said the office remains underpaid relative to comparable regional offices but that the current package keeps the office competitively staffed.
Digitization and software: Dupree and budget staff described a multi-year digitization effort for historic case files and a cloud-based records system. Dupree said the office completed digitizing older boxes back to 2013 and continues scanning newer files; ongoing costs include software maintenance and periodic temporary help for scanning. He described several contractual items the office pays annually, including the DA case management system and legal research subscriptions.
Victim services and grants: Dupree credited recent grant funding for expanding victim services and specialized prosecutors. He cited a grant used to hire a sexual-assault prosecutor and a victim advocate, and other state/federal grants (including opioid-related funding) that have paid for additional victim-advocacy positions and a coordinator. He noted the state awarded a victim advocate in his office a statewide award and said the office works to secure third-party grant funds to reduce pressure on the county general fund.
Questions and operations: Commissioners pressed for reconciled line items; Deputy Budget Director Michael Peterson acknowledged the budget book contained draft pages that would be corrected and reissued to match the numbers the department and budget staff had negotiated. Commissioners also asked Dupree about backlog, testing costs for sexual-assault evidence (Dupree estimated roughly $1,000 per kit and said hundreds of kits continue to be tested each year), and the office's use of temporary staff for ongoing scanning work.
Discussion versus decision: The commission did not vote on the DA's budget at the workshop. Commissioners asked for corrected department pages and for staff to return with reconciled numbers; Dupree said the $760,000 figure reflects personnel reorganization and filled positions and characterized it as the minimal competitive package he could accept.
Bottom line: The district attorney presented the office's personnel and contractual needs as driven by a high-volume, multi-agency caseload and by prior staffing shortfalls. He asked the commission to consider the public-safety value of funding a competitive prosecutor staff while staff committed to provide corrected budget pages for commissioner review.