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Highway Patrol funding, Troop J maintenance and Salina campus needs draw committee follow-up
Summary
Law enforcement and patrol facility requests drew detailed discussion; the committee approved funding recommendations while asking KHP to present a Salina (Celina) campus needs assessment and clarifying Troop J maintenance funding.
The Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) presented a slate of facility and maintenance projects, and committee members requested further information and an agency presentation to clarify the condition and funding needs of the Salina (Celina) campus and Troop J training academy.
KLRD summarized the agency’s FY2025 capital requests including scale-house repairs and replacements, hangar work and training‑academy projects. Presenters said the Troop J Training Academy had an original enhancement request the LBC deleted for FY2025 (roughly $1,000,058 requested as an enhancement), but that there is $413,000 shown in FY2026 for related projects. Merle Bridal, executive officer for KHP, explained that the agency’s prior maintenance costs for the Salina campus can approach $500,000 annually and that the FY2025 enhancement request represented “extraordinary needs” (concrete cap, stairwell repairs and other significant items). Bridal said the agency had not expended requested enhancement funds because the LBC did not authorize them; the $413,000 in FY2026 was intended to resume or fund ongoing projects.
Deputy Secretary Frank Burnham and Sherry Mackey, KHP deputy secretary of business operations, told the committee that some FY2024-to-2025 expenditures carried into the current year (for example, elevator renovations) and that the agency has been shifting maintenance funding pending decisions about longer-term facility options. Committee members—led by Senator Claeys/Claes and others—urged the committee to schedule a follow-up discussion with agency managers (Clark and Anderson were mentioned) to assess which pieces of the campus should be retained, which should be replaced, and whether investments should be redirected to new facilities instead of ongoing repair.
The committee approved HB 2007 funding recommendations for KHP for 2025 and 2026 with added language requesting a presentation on the Salina/Celina campus needs assessment (pursuant to HB 2551) and asking the Legislature to review Troop J rehabilitation/repair requests as part of the overall plan.
Why it matters: Troop J and Salina campus are aging facilities with recurring maintenance costs and deferred capital needs; committee members expressed concern that short-term repairs could be expensive to sustain without a long-term facility plan.
Ending: The committee directed KHP to provide a presentation and more detailed cost/use information so legislators can consider whether to fund repairs, reconfiguration, or replacement as part of capital appropriations.
