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Developmental Services NWK asks Ellis County to hold funding and consider increase for KidLink and ACCESS transit
Summary
Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas told commissioners it faces a county gap of roughly $167,000 for local DSNWK services in Ellis County and asked the county to hold funding at last year’s level for core services and consider additional support for ACCESS public transit to cover growing shortfalls.
Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas (DSNWK) requested continued county support for its regional programs and asked commissioners to consider additional local funding for ACCESS public transportation during a June 3 presentation.
"We were asking for the, if you can hold the line on that, that would be great," Jerry Michaud, executive with DSNWK, said as he described program budgets for the 2024 reporting period. Michaud told commissioners DSNWK has 173 full-time-equivalent employees in the region, serves primarily through Medicaid home- and community-based services, and showed a county-specific shortfall of about $166,000–$167,000 for Ellis County services.
Sarah Biggs, DSNWK director of programs and services, outlined KidLink early-childhood services and requested $120,000 in county support, the same amount provided in the prior year. She provided referral and caseload figures for January through March: 19 referrals and 29 children served in that quarter in Ellis County, and she described funding sources including Part C Medicaid, county support, United Way, state aid and grants.
Wade Cruz, ACCESS transportation manager, told commissioners ACCESS provided roughly 28,000 rides in the last calendar year (correcting an earlier packet error that listed 35,000). He said vehicle replacement and operating costs have risen sharply and that state funding from KDOT and federal FTA allocations have not kept pace. "The cost of everything in access is going up... our buses have gone from $80,000 eight years ago to almost $160,000 a piece now," Cruz said. He described KDOT’s flat statewide public-transportation appropriation and said local match requests are increasing as federal and state sources shrink.
Michaud said DSNWK’s prior local request had been $50,000 shared between Ellis County and the City of Hays; for 2026 he said the organization faces roughly a $172,000 shortfall for ACCESS and that Ellis County’s 38% local share would equal about $65,000. He said DSNWK will present a similar request to the City of Hays on Thursday.
Commissioners asked whether ACCESS operates only inside Ellis County; Cruz said ACCESS provides rides strictly within county boundaries and does not cross county lines for the public transit program. Cruz also said ACCESS cannot raise fares without KDOT approval and cited examples of agencies in Kansas that closed during recent fiscal years when funding ran out.
Commissioners thanked presenters and said the request will be considered during the county budget review process. No formal county appropriation was adopted at the meeting.
