Sedgwick County to launch online budget simulator May 5 to boost early public input

Sedgwick County staff and a Wichita State University researcher previewed a draft online budget simulator the commission plans to launch May 5 and keep open for three weeks to solicit public input on spending priorities funded by county property tax.

The simulator is intended to give residents a hands-on way to see trade-offs between service levels and property-tax changes, county staff said, and county finance staff will analyze results and report back in early June. The tool focuses on the general-fund portion of the county budget that is funded by property taxes and does not show the county's entire budget of roughly half a billion dollars.

County staff said the simulator is designed to address two recurring problems with traditional public hearings: participation that is both low and unrepresentative, and engagement that often arrives too late in the budget cycle to shape decisions. The project team showed a draft interface modeled on software used in other jurisdictions and said it ties service-level choices to dollar amounts so participants can see how decisions affect a stated $5.3 million shortfall in the county's requested general-fund forecast.

Project presenter (Wichita State University researcher) described the tool's current setup as a three-level spending model: requested, enhanced and reduced, with the enhanced and reduced presets set as a 2 percent increase or 2 percent decrease in departmental spending. On the revenue side, the tool currently allows adjustments only to the county property-tax mill levy in one-eighth-of-a-mill increments. The presenter said the median-value home used in the calculations is $250,500 and that the interface shows the estimated annual change in property tax for that median home.

County staff said the simulator will require three brief entry questions (whether the user is a resident, a property owner and their ZIP code). Additional demographic exit questions will be optional, and the project team said it will use IP-address analysis and time-on-task measures to detect likely repeat or automated submissions as part of post-survey quality checks.

Lindsay (county staff, finance) said the simulator is meant to illustrate the mechanics and trade-offs of the general-fund budget, not to present a full accounting of all county funds. "This is a tool to show us what's really going to happen," Lindsay said, explaining that the county sometimes plans one-time uses of fund balance for capital or technology projects and that recurring staffing requests can change long-term projections.

Commissioners asked for clearer front-end messaging and additional context. Commissioner Sherman asked whether the simulator could show the county's full $560 million budget or, at minimum, link users to explanatory material showing how the general fund fits into total local tax burdens. Several commissioners urged the staff to display a revenue-neutral reference (R and R) and year-over-year dollar changes so users and legislators can see how a change in mills would move county revenues and tax rates.

Several commissioners also expressed caution about treating simulator responses as a representative public survey. Commissioner Lubaugh and others noted the risk that highly motivated, small groups could skew results, and asked staff to avoid presenting the simulator as a statistically representative poll. Commissioners suggested pairing the online tool with outreach such as live events, meetings and social media to broaden participation.

Staff said the county purchased a vendor software package (Wichita State University facilitated the purchase for the project team) and that some customization is possible but limited. Staff said departments have been providing summary data and analysts are loading spending lines into the tool; Lorraine (budget analyst) and her team are working with departments to translate decision packages into the simulator's presets.

The project team cited the city of Lawrence, Kansas, as an example: Lawrence has run a similar simulator for three years and reported more than 500 participants across runs. County staff said Sedgwick County's first-year rollout will be more limited than Lawrence's mature version and that they expect to refine the tool in future budget cycles and link it more closely to strategic planning.

Staff reiterated the launch plan: public access beginning May 5 for three weeks; post-simulation analysis in late May; and a follow-up presentation to the commission in early June. Staff asked commissioners and other county leaders to encourage residents to use the tool as part of a broader engagement strategy.

The presentation did not include a formal vote or adoption of policies. Staff will return with analysis and proposed next steps after the public-run period ends.