Sedgwick County sheriff, DA pushing for more money in the budget next year

SEDGWICK COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) – Sedgwick County is in the process of creating next year’s budget. Public safety comes to the forefront next week.

Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said he needs to increase the pay for his deputies, but the county said doing that would cost them $25 million.

Sheriff Easter and the Sedgwick County District Attorney, Marc Bennett, said they have staffing problems because pay is not competitive.

Sheriff Easter wants to raise pay by a total of 20% by 2026. His intent was to stay competitive with the Wichita Police Department. Sheriff Easter said deputies have left the sheriff’s office because the WPD pays more.

“Why are they going over to the police department, instead of staying with us and moving to the commission side, they tell us it’s pay,” said Sheriff Easter.

Even if the raises are approved, Sheriff Easter said deputies will make less than police.

“That still leaves us over 10% behind them in just base pay, but we believe we can stay competitive at that rate,” said Sheriff Easter.

At the district attorney’s office, Bennett said he’s 20% short of a full staff. Adding, this is causing a backlog in prosecuting cases.

Bennett believes it’s a challenge to compete with rural counties because he says they can offer more pay raises since they have a smaller staff, whereas Bennett has 56 attorneys.

“Some of my neighbors to the north, a couple of counties, are offering $40-50,000 a year more for starting salaries than I can, and that’s difficult to contend with,” said Bennett.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell said raises for the sheriff’s office will cost the county $25 million. He said the country must find a way to get it done.

“Either find more revenue, which means more taxes, or lower the cost of spending some place else, that’s the challenge you have in any government, but certainly here in Sedgwick County,” said Howell.

Sedgwick County will have a public budget hearing next Tuesday to hear from these departments about the questions. The 2025 budget will be finalized in August.

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