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State Fair presents budget, seeks ARPA repurposing and $750,000 for barn upgrades
Summary
Legislative fiscal staff and the Kansas State Fair general manager briefed the committee on the fair’s budget, requested repurposing roughly $243,000 in ARPA funds to complete a lighting project, and sought $750,000 toward $1.5 million in livestock barn upgrades; the fair reported about $106 million economic impact for the 10-day event.
Legislative fiscal staff and the Kansas State Fair general manager told a Kansas Senate committee that the fair’s recent capital projects drove prior-year spending spikes and outlined several funding requests for repair and improvement projects, including a request to repurpose unspent ARPA funds for lighting and a state request for $750,000 to begin livestock barn upgrades.
Luke Drury, senior fiscal analyst with legislative research, walked members through the agency’s budget summary and noted FY 2024–25 spending spikes tied to capital improvement projects such as the Bison Arena renovations. Drury said the State Fair plans to move future capital expenditures into a capital improvements fund and that, beginning in FY 2027, the fair’s base budget would include no state general fund.
Drury also flagged negative ending balances in the State Fair fee fund driven by encumbrances that have since been released: "I've spoken with the state fair, and they have had about $218,000 in encumbrances that have since been released," he said, adding that cleanup would change a red projection to net positive.
On FY 2026 work, Drury and fair manager Brian Schultz discussed a lighting project and a request to reimburse shuttle expenses from a wet fair. The fair requested roughly $243,000 in ARPA funds to finish lighting, and $20,507 for shuttle reimbursement; Drury said repurposing ARPA monies would require explicit legislative language. "The agency has asked for the possibility of repurposing that ARPA monies that could be repurposed for the lighting projects as well," Drury said.
Schultz, the Kansas State Fair general manager, told the committee the livestock barns need electrical and structural upgrades and estimated a total project cost near $1.5 million. He said the fair would seek about half of that ($750,000) from the state and the remainder from private donors and the fair’s foundation. "It would probably be a couple years" to complete that work, Schultz said, due to procurement and scheduling constraints.
Schultz also gave staffing and economic-impact figures: the fair currently has 27 full-time employees with two recent vacancies and hopes to fill positions by May; an economic impact study cited roughly $106 million of economic effect during the 10 days of the Kansas State Fair and about $123 million annually for Reno County and the state region.
The committee asked whether proposed fee and admission increases were already reflected in the FY 2027 revenue estimates; Schultz said those conversations are just beginning and changes were not yet captured in the budget projection.
The committee thanked presenters and scheduled a follow-up meeting to finalize committee recommendations.
