Shawnee Co. tentatively votes to cut DA budget, retirement fund

TOPEKA (KSNT) – Shawnee County commissioners voted unanimously to tentatively cut the county retirement fund and $200,000 from the District Attorney’s Office as part of its ongoing budget discussions.

Commissioners heard they needed to cut $150,485 from the county budget to meet the county’s maximum mill levy and cut $2,522,485 to meet a flat mill levy during their meeting on Monday, Aug. 11.

“Well, I took a hard look at this this weekend, I couldn’t come up with the two million, but I have some suggestions to throw out there,” Shawnee County Commissioner Bill Riphahn said. “One would be a reduction in the DA’s budget. I came up with $300,000, the other was the retirement fund.”

Commissioners voted unanimously to cut $300,000 from the DA’s budget. That cut was amended to $200,000 by Commissioner Aaron Mays. Those motions were followed by a motion by Riphahn that passed 3-0 to reduce the county retirement fund from 75% to 50%.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay wasn’t in attendance at the meeting.

After finding savings through the DA’s Office and retirement budget cuts, Commissioner Kevin Cook asked about adding a wage study back into the budget. He motioned to add $50,000 back into the budget for the study. The motion was seconded by Riphahn and passed 2-1 with Mays opposed.

Shawnee County commissioners have been working to cut spending to meet the county’s maximum mill levy. Last week on Aug. 7, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay butted heads with county commissioners over budget requests that Kagay says would have real-life consequences.

Kagay said his department is behind neighboring jurisdictions in wages. He said the budget increase helps bridge the wage gap, but not close it. Additionally, he said his office could hit its ethical case load limit.

Cook called on all department heads on July 28 to attend the Aug. 4 commission meeting to help identify ways they can cut 2-5% of their budgets. At the meeting on Monday, Aug. 4, the departments and community partners presented a combined $4,337,183 in potential budget reductions.

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