Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday gave city staff members largely positive feedback on their preliminary plans to correct a projected $6.6 million deficit in the 2026 budget.
Staff members shared a presentation on potential cuts to various city departments.
They also asked the commissioners to specifically weigh in on a few items: whether they want to aim to restore $2 million to the city’s fund balance; whether they want to continue with market-based pay for city employees; any changes to program prioritization; and whether they’d be willing to raise the mill levy, or property tax rate.
Alley Porter, budget and strategic initiatives manager, told the commission that the fund balance restoration was about protecting the city against economic downturns and keeping bond ratings as low as possible.
However, “It’s also to try to set us up sustainably in the future so we can stop having these reduction conversations,” she said. “We don’t want to keep having these conversations, either.”
Priorities
Commissioners generally said they wanted to proceed with market-based pay, continuing a plan the city began during previous years.
“I don’t believe in asking people to do more for less,” Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei said.
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They also generally agreed that they should try to restore the fund balance to the best of their ability, probably in the range of $2 million for 2025.
Representatives of the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical firefighters union, IAFF Local 1596, and the police union, the Lawrence Police Officers Association, spoke against cuts to their public safety departments.
Commissioner Bart Littlejohn said he wanted to prioritize LDCFM and see how further conversations about department cost-sharing with the county would go. Finkeldei said the commission has a goal of not reducing the budgets for police investigations and patrol units.
Commissioner Lisa Larsen said she wanted to try to keep a new, full-time position in code enforcement that is not currently filled. However, she said she appreciated staff members looking at cuts to positions that are not filled.
Commissioner Amber Sellers agreed that code enforcement and rental inspection were part of a bigger conversation on housing, and she also wanted to keep that position as well as talk to staff about looking at bringing in partners to help with inspections.
Rec center fees
Many other communities have fees to use recreation facilities. City staff members have brought up the idea in Lawrence in recent years to help offset costs in the Parks, Recreation and Culture department. In 2023, the city reversed course after proposed fees were met with concerns from dozens of members of the public.
This year, commissioners have indicated they might be in favor of fees for rec centers.
Mayor Mike Dever asked what kind of overhead it would take to establish fees at rec centers — essentially, whether the cost of charging fees would outweigh the revenue the fees would bring in.
City Manager Craig Owens said he thinks the city has the capability and staff can handle setting points, but “Quite honestly, it’s about political will.” The city would have to wrestle with getting the community accustomed to it, he said.
Sheri Ellenbecker, who serves on the city manager’s community budget committee, told the commission during public comment that she thought kids under 18 should be able to continue using recreation facilities for free. The city should give them the ability to grow and thrive, she said.
“That’s the only thing I’m really worried about,” she told commissioners. Even a program to offer scholarships could be a hurdle that some kids and families would be unable to get over, she said. “… That’s abandoning the kids that need this positive, supervised space the most, and then sending them to spaces that are not as good of a place for them.”
Property tax rate
If commissioners hold the mill levy — or property tax rate — flat, property taxes for most property owners will still increase because of rising property valuations. But increasing the mill levy would further increase property taxes.
Larsen said she had “absolutely no interest” in raising the mill levy. Dever, too, said he would like to hold the mill levy flat.
Finkeldei said he wouldn’t go to a tax increase first, but a “small tolerance” was possible.
Sellers said she couldn’t say no to a property tax rate increase yet.
“I think making a statement of that right now would be very premature on our part, knowing that we don’t know where we’ll be in July,” she said.
Commissioners did not need to vote or take any formal action on the budget Tuesday.
As the next step, city staff members will bring the capital improvement plan to the commission in June, according to a timeline in the meeting agenda. There will be several more budget-focused meetings through September.
Read more about the city budget process in the articles linked below.
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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.
Lawrence city budget coverage
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