Veterans services seeks millions for new Topeka home, repairs at Winfield and cemetery projects

Molly Pratt, fiscal analyst with the Legislative Research Department, presented the Kansas Office of Veteran Services capital improvement plan and revised FY2026 estimate of $22,900,000, including $693,528 in state general funds and $20.8 million from the State Institutions Building Fund and capital improvement expenditures. For FY2027 the agency requests $6.1 million, including roughly $202,000 SGF and $5.8 million SIBF.

Pratt said the 2023 legislature appropriated $17.2 million—35% of the estimated cost—for a new veterans home to be located in Topeka and that the agency has expended about $3.5 million to date on schematic designs and architectural work. "The remaining monies for the new northeast veterans home will likely be carried forward into fiscal year 2027, because the agency does not know when it will receive the matching Federal funds," Pratt said.

Her presentation detailed ongoing and planned repair projects at the Soldiers Home (including shower-room conversions to serve bariatric patients, fire-panel replacements, generator and HVAC work, pharmacy expansion and IT upgrades) and at the Winfield veterans home (electrical upgrades, door replacement, steam-line repair, chillers and a proposed remodel of Bleckley Hall’s dining room and kitchen). Pratt also described cemetery projects—roads, storage building expansion, committal-shelter doors, memorial walkways and expanded casket/cremation gardens—and said some cemetery work will be paid for with a federal grant deposited into the agency later than expected.

Committee members pressed for additional detail on bariatric shower capacity and storage-building necessity; Pratt said the agency is converting at least one large room to an accessible shower and that grounds crews report the current storage is cramped, forcing equipment to be kept outdoors where it rusts and needs replacement. Pratt noted several projects carried forward because the agency struggles to find contractors near Winfield and Fort Dodge. The committee did not vote on the items at this session.