Commissioner Ryan Beatty of Sedgwick County said the Kansas Department of Corrections plans to reallocate community corrections grant money in a way that would reduce Sedgwick County's share by 38% beginning in 2027, a cut he said totals nearly $2,100,000.

Beatty said the change stems from a new funding formula developed after review by the Community Corrections Advisory Committee and that the total pot of KDOC grant money is not being reduced, only the way the money is allocated among counties. "38%. How does our county, which has the state's highest number of felony offenders under supervision, with nearly 25 percent of these individuals being sent here from other communities across Kansas, how does our county receive a cut that will decimate our ability to provide safe levels of oversight to these felony offenders? It makes no sense," Beatty said.

The issue matters, Beatty said, because Sedgwick County is required under the Kansas Community Corrections Act (1978) to provide intensive supervision to an average of about 1,100 felony offenders each day, and the programs are funded through a combination of KDOC-administered state grants and local contributions. "It's only a beneficial strategy if the programming is properly funded and resourced, and that is now being threatened," he said.

Beatty described the proposed allocations to other counties as increases while Sedgwick would take a large reduction: Allen and Neosho were shown a roughly 30% increase, Dickinson and Geary about 16%, Labette and Crawford about 24%, and Johnson County about 36%, he said. Beatty said Sedgwick County was not invited to the committee discussions that produced the formula and called the result "deeply concerning." He characterized the outcome as politically driven in his remarks: "The answer, I fear, is just plain old politics."

According to Beatty, Sedgwick County has been communicating with the governor's office and the Kansas Department of Corrections since the formula was proposed. He said those conversations did not produce changes: "we have learned that these discussions were not fruitful and this funding formula is being presented as final." He said the county will escalate appeals to Governor Laura Kelly, KDOC and the state legislature when it reconvenes in January 2026.

Beatty asked residents to watch developments and said he would continue to update the public by social media and newsletters. He did not report any formal vote or county action taken in the remarks recorded in the transcript.