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Commissioner says Sedgwick County 'left with pennies' under population-based allocation
Summary
A commissioner who led early litigation argued Sedgwick County bore the brunt of opioid harms and criticized the population-based allocation that spreads funds by population rather than incidence, calling the county's expected return 'pennies on the dollar.'
At a staff briefing on the Wichita–Sedgwick opioid strategic plan, one commissioner criticized the state's population-based formula for dividing settlement funds and said Sedgwick County — an early litigant — is not receiving a share commensurate with local harm.
"Sedgwick County led on this issue... We're just left with basically pennies on the dollar here," the commissioner said, arguing the county carried early costs for treatment, emergency services and law-enforcement responses. The commissioner urged staff and elected leaders to seek a different approach that better reflects local case load and fiscal burdens.
Stedman and county staff responded that the state MOU and Exhibit E determine the split, and while local governments can apply to state RFPs, the county and city pooled their 25% local allocations to gain purchasing power. "15,500,000 isn't a small amount of change," Rhiannon Strait said in response, urging elected officials to review the implementation allocations and procurement plan before judging the program's potential.
