Healthy 33 is a call to action for the Unified Government of WYCO/KCK to dedicate 33% of the county’s budget to Community Services departments.
Why Community Services?
Community services departments include our following county departments: Public Health, Area of Aging, Parks & Rec, Neighborhood Resources, Elections, and Housing Resources. These departments directly impact the social determinants of health of our residents. If we want to have a healthier Wyandotte County these are the departments we should invest in.
“The community services portion of our budget, this is the people’s budget.”
- Nikki Richardson, Executive Director of Justice for Wyandotte
Where is Wyandotte County now?
Wyandotte County continues to rank among the least healthy counties in Kansas. Despite this reality, funding for these community services departments has been reduced by approximately 1–2% each year over the past several years. As a result, we are now investing less than 12% of the county’s budget in these critical health and community services.
How a county special sales tax helps us reach a Healthy 33 budget?
The Unified Government estimates the measure could generate approximately $12 million annually for county health-care purposes. The Wyandotte County Special Sales Tax provides a way to increase investment in essential health services without increasing property taxes. By generating dedicated revenue for health care, behavioral health, prevention, and other critical services such as homelessness services, the Health Sales Tax can help move our county toward the Healthy 33 goal to help our residents thrive.
View Wyandotte County’s health rankings: