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Health department outlines $224,211 shortfall to county as child-care licensing serves four surrounding counties
Summary
Riley County Health Department reported that state funding and local fees do not cover staffing and operating costs for regional child-care licensing; staff recommended keeping the current regional contract through June 30, 2026, while pursuing additional revenue.
Diane Creek, director of Riley County Health Department, told commissioners on July 10 that the department’s child-care licensing program is underfunded when the county serves neighboring jurisdictions. Creek presented a county-by-county breakdown of state funding, expenses and resulting deficits for the most recent fiscal year.
Nut graf: Creek said KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) provides a fixed allocation across five counties served by the department; Riley County absorbs an operating deficit when it carries licensing responsibilities for the four adjacent counties. She recommended maintaining the current multi-county contract through the existing KDHE contract term (ending June 30, 2026) while seeking additional revenue and pursuing debt-collection options.
Creek gave specific figures for the fiscal year July 1–June 30: KDHE payments listed in the packet were $100,000 for Riley County; $26,000 for Geary County; $12,400 for Clay; $20,000 for Dickinson; $42,900 for Pottawatomie; plus an umbrella payment of $19,000, for a total of $220,300 in state funding. She said total expenses for Riley County alone were $186,006.95, producing an annual deficit for Riley of $82,008.95. Combined deficits across the four other counties totaled $141,316 and the overall shortfall across all five counties was $224,211, Creek reported.
Creek outlined three staffing options her office modeled: (1) keep three staff plus a supervisor covering all five counties (current arrangement); (2) reduce service to Riley plus one adjacent county (Riley + Geary) with 2.5 FTE; or (3) serve Riley only with two FTE. Creek said KDHE told the department that if Riley County served only itself, KDHE funding likely would fall to about $53,781 — not enough to cover one full-time position.
Creek recommended option 1 — continuing the current multi-county service through June 30, 2026 — while the department pursues additional steps to reduce the deficit. She said staff would do three things immediately: enroll in KDHE's debt setoff program to recover unpaid provider fees; increase outreach to providers and other county commissioners to request additional funding; and provide monthly updates to the Riley County Commission on progress toward closing the shortfall. "My recommendation is to maintain the childcare licensing program as it is now since we're under contract, with 3 staff, 1 supervisor, and the 4 additional counties until 06/30/2026," Creek said.
Ending: Creek said she had already emailed KDHE to request a full copy of the contract and would continue discussions with KDHE about the funding formula. She asked for commission direction and offered to meet with commissioners from the other counties to explain the program and request shared funding.
