The City of Lawrence is facing a roughly $6 million deficit this year, and city staff members are looking at cuts to several departments to lessen that amount.
Sales tax revenues have fallen well short of projections, according to a memo in the Lawrence City Commission’s Tuesday meeting agenda and previous information the city has shared about the budget.
Staff members have found $2.7 million in spending cuts, including some reductions to Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and the Lawrence Police Department, as well as transfers of $1.27 million from various funds in order to relieve the general fund, according to the agenda item.
“Additionally, the City expects to utilize approximately $2 million in the General Fund’s fund balance to sustain operations in 2024,” according to the staff memo.
City staff members are not asking for the commission’s approval Tuesday but will provide an overview of the proposed cuts. Individual cuts and transfers will come back to the commission for approval at the next meeting.
Here’s the list of cuts up for consideration:
20240813-Proposed-cutsThe Lawrence City Commission will meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. See the complete meeting agenda at this link. This item is under the city manager’s report.
In other business, commissioners will consider three options for renovations to the Outdoor Aquatic Center and a number of additional appointments to city advisory boards.
Meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@lawrenceksvideo.
The commission accepts written public comment until noon the day of the meeting emailed to ccagendas@lawrenceks.org. The commission also hears public comment in person during meetings as well as via Zoom. Register for Tuesday’s Zoom meeting at this link.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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