Voters in Sedgwick County’s District 3 will decide between a commercial real estate broker and a former fraud investigator to fill an empty county commission seat.
District 3 encompasses much of west Wichita, rural Sedgwick County and small cities like Goddard, Garden Plain, Colwich and Andale. Incumbent Republican David Dennis, who served as commissioner for the past eight years, is not seeking reelection.
Republican Stephanie Wise, born and raised in the Goddard area, works in commercial real estate, as the vice president and associate broker at Street Commercial. She specializes in lease negotiations between commercial landlords and tenants.
Wise said the commission’s role in ordering the closure of certain businesses during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic spurred her to run. Many businesses she worked with had to close, she said.
“Anytime the government is dictating whether your business is essential or not is a problem,” Wise said.
“I would hope that, had I been in that seat at that time, that I would have voted to protect those businesses and allowing them to stay open if they chose to,” she added.
Democrat Celeste Racette grew up on both the east and west sides of Wichita. After working as an accountant and auditor for banks, she spent five years investigating bank fraud for the federal government. In 2019, Racette founded Save Century II, an organization dedicated to preserving the building.
Racette decided to run after losing a campaign for mayor of Wichita last year. Her candidacy for mayor as well as county commission stems from frustration with economic development incentives developers get from the city and county.
“I still am unhappy – I'll just be very blunt – with the way taxpayer money is being mishandled,” Racette said.
Here's where the candidates stand on issues and questions facing the district:
Candidate responses were edited for length and clarity.
What are your top two priorities if elected to the Sedgwick County Commission?
Stephanie Wise: 1. Modernizing county government through functional consolidation of departments and services, eliminating redundancies between the county and the 20 cities that exist within the county’s borders.
2. Property tax reform — both as an advocate at the state level and as an executive on the commission to pass meaningful policy that would alleviate and help the people of Sedgwick County, especially seniors and those who are living on a fixed income.
Celeste Racette: My top priority is fair taxation and keeping property taxes 'revenue neutral.' To accomplish this, I will start by ensuring county government serves its citizens with honest, accountable and financially responsible policies and actions. My unique qualifications as a bank examiner, fraud investigator and auditor give me the tools to protect taxpayers. Property taxes is on every voter's mind when we knock on doors! I will also work full time in the position, giving taxpayers 100% of my attention and energy.
My second priority is to protect the core services under the county’s control. Most significant is public safety. We must provide for the Sheriff's department, Fire, 911 and EMS with the resources they need to keep our community safe and secure.
Sedgwick County commissioners have discussed passing a sales tax that would a) offset property tax revenue, and b) fund cultural arts, recreation and cultural services. Do you support this idea? If so, why?
Stephanie Wise: As it stands, there are two proposals under consideration that would fund the arts and quality of life line-items via sales tax. To be clear, the sales tax wouldn't be an additional source of funding; rather, it would be an alternative source of funding, offsetting the amount the county would need to collect in property taxes, thus allowing the commission to lower the mill-levy rate by a considerable margin. Right now, roughly 30% of the total revenue collected by the existing .01 sales tax, which has been in place since 1985, is generated by people who live outside the county. Keeping the sales tax base broad is the key to the success of whichever plan the county implements going forward.
Celeste Racette: I am supportive of any rational alternatives to the growing problem of inflationary increases in property tax values that are hurting hard working families, and seniors on fixed incomes. Many families are just one paycheck away from eviction. The sales tax option is one alternative, but it won’t be enough on its own to seriously reverse the current trend of inflationary increases in property tax. We have to collaborate with all 20 cities within the county to eliminate waste and overlap. Replacing one tax with another tax is not the answer. We spend $8,000,000 annually on inmate health care, why hasn't the state expanded Medicaid? The hotel guest tax is used by the City of Wichita to fund cultural arts, why isn't this shared proportionately by the county?
Expenditures, such as wages, continue to increase for the county. But some residents say they are struggling with rising property taxes, which fund county government. How would you address and balance these two issues moving forward, and would it require any more cuts to county government?
Stephanie Wise: Functional consolidation between Sedgwick County and the 20 cities represented within its borders is the responsible course of action, and thus one I fully support. Modernizing and consolidating government will eliminate wasteful redundancies, produce more efficiency, and ultimately alleviate the heavy property tax burden facing residents throughout the county. Like the sales tax, I will not commit to any particular plan at the present time, as I need to learn more about the proposals and potential consequences, both positive and negative. There are no “fixes” in government; everything is a tradeoff of some kind. I owe it to the people of Sedgwick County, and to county staff, to do my due diligence before committing to one particular model of consolidation.
Celeste Racette: The first priority is to ensure that county government is waste free. My 25 year skill set as a financial manager gives me the proper perspective to oversee county government finances. We must continue to offer competitive salaries to county employees, but we have to do a better job of streamlining government functions. I have also discovered millions of dollars in unpaid loans to developers from the City of Wichita that are winding through the court system. Developers should be encouraged, but economic incentives tied to development should be monitored to prevent abuse. At the same time, we have to stay focused on providing compensation to retain and attract staff. Mandatory overtime in the Sedgwick County Jail then could be eliminated.
The county’s solar moratorium expired in mid-September. Though new county rules regarding utility-scale solar limit where it can be placed, there is still land in District 3 that is eligible for solar farms. If a solar farm zoning application is brought to the county, how would you treat it?
Stephanie Wise: I will commit to reviewing and considering each application that is presented based on the merits and with a strong bent toward respecting property rights. I understand that some farmers are seeing this as an appealing option to generate revenue on their land without having to sell it. However, the property rights of surrounding neighbors are equally important, and there are a lot of concerns with the size of the land being appropriated for materials that are highly questionable. The government's role is to protect the rights of all property owners, not to prop-up artificial markets, such as solar and wind. I have to balance the competing interests of property owners, making sure the decisions of one property owner don’t negatively affect the decision of their neighbors, which is exactly what’s happening with solar energy in counties across Kansas and around the U.S.
Celeste Racette: Solar power is an important component of our future energy policy. Just as with every other land use question that comes before the county commission, we must strike a rational balance between property rights and the public interest. That can be accomplished with a fully transparent process that allows all voices to be heard. Sedgwick County District 3 has more rural area than most. New technology is coming that will shrink transmission lines, making it easier to handle solar power. Careful analysis of the proposal and feedback from existing housing developments will determine the feasibility of the zoning application.
District 3 includes both Lake Afton and Sedgwick County Park, two places where the county recently said residents had issues with trash and deterioration. The county also cut the parks department budget in the 2025 budget. How would you care for the county’s parks and the people who use them?
Stephanie Wise: The county has shown recent efforts to make improvements of these parks by implementing National Clean Up Day at Sedgwick County Park and updating the park rules at Lake Afton regarding the amount of days visitors are allowed to stay at the park annually. Before these rules were in place, we had approximately 20 homesteaders living at Lake Afton. The park was never meant to be a housing facility. As we focus on functional consolidation, we talk a lot about what the core functions of county government are. Parks are not a core function and the parks department could be potentially folded into the City of Wichita.
Celeste Racette: Camping long-term at Lake Afton is the outcome from many different stress factors: homeownership in Sedgwick County has fallen from 63% in 2021, to 58% in 2022, and rents are rising. Affordable housing needs to be addressed, as many of these individuals just couldn't afford rent! Our parks department provides a vital quality of life component to Sedgwick County citizens and must be safe and open for everyone to enjoy. The problem with long-term camping is that it interferes with the experience families and visitors expect when enjoying the park facilities. I believe the county made the right decision.
