Lawrence city commissioners generally approved of a five-year plan for millions of dollars in infrastructure projects Tuesday, but residents asked for budget information that is more transparent and easier to comprehend.
Some also pushed for the city administration to take residents’ requests for capital improvement projects into consideration.
Altogether, almost 20 people spoke to commissioners about the 2026-2030 capital improvement plan.
Here are some of the key points and concerns shared during the roughly two-hour discussion, and some of the commissioners’ directions to staff at this point in the budget process.
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Transparency and engagement concerns
Several community members, including members of the new local advocacy group Coalition for Collaborative Governance, voiced concerns about a lack of transparency surrounding certain aspects of the budget, and in opportunities for residents to weigh in. Many numbers that they believe should be readily available from the city have been difficult to find and required a lot of time and research to uncover, some speakers said.
Coalition members have in particular taken issue with A Balancing Act, the city’s online program that allows people to weigh in on which parts of the budget they would like to see increased or decreased.
“The city’s budget engagement did not allow people to submit any input or comments without solving a complicated puzzle of making 49 funding decisions to eliminate the city’s anticipated $6.6 million debt,” Melinda Ball told the commission. So the coalition created its own survey that “includes multiple choice questions, opportunities for comments, and no requirement to solve the deficit. We believe this survey is easier and more accessible than what the city provided.”
Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei said he’d be interested in hearing more about the coalition’s survey results. The survey is available at this link. However, Finkeldei said he is “a very big fan” of A Balancing Act.
“The reason it’s complicated is because what we do is complicated,” he said.
Sustainability of debt
Some community members asked commissioners whether proposals to cover the cost of capital improvement projects with bonds, meaning the city takes on debt to be paid off in future years, are sustainable for the city.
“We have researched the city budget extensively to increase transparency about our city’s finances, and our research shows that the city has substantially increased their debt in the last two years, bringing our city’s current total debt to $463 million,” Holly Krebs, a leader of the Coalition for Collaborative Governance, told commissioners. “The proposed CIP would increase our city’s debt by an additional $126 million next year, which we estimate would bring the city’s total debt to about $550 million. This would be a 56% increase in three years. This also means that our city would be indebted for $5,700 for each Lawrence resident.”
Mayor Mike Dever asked city staff members to address those questions.
“Due to our forecast and the revenues, we need to slow down, or unfund, or change timing of projects to maintain the affordability of our funds,” Rachelle Mathews, director of finance for the city, told the commission. But she said staff members take into account the principal and interest that come with debt funded projects.
Mathews said there’s a limit under state law on the amount of debt the city can take on, and the city is at about roughly 24% to 28% of that number, or “nowhere near our debt limit.”
There’s also a limit with the market, she said: “We competitively sell our debt, meaning we go out and we make a public offering and give people the opportunity to give us the best deal possible. So we are publicly rated by Moody’s, and they also do an independent financial assessment of our debt capacity, debt load and revenue, and therefore do their own analysis on whether they agree to buy our bonds or not.”
Commissioners said the city has been approaching the top of a curve in CIP spending over the past few years, and it is set to go down in future years under the current plan.
Commissioner Lisa Larsen said she appreciated the questions people raised, and that she felt she had a better understanding of the city’s debt and how much it can take on after hearing more from Mathews.
“I think that’s really important to keep our thumb on that number to make sure that this is all sustainable,” Larsen said.
But the answers commissioners were given didn’t necessarily assuage the transparency concerns of all the members of the public who were present. After the meeting, Krebs shared numbers from April that the coalition had found in the city’s official statements provided to the Electronic Municipal Market Access database.
“The City’s current debt limit is $490,554,491, and their outstanding debt subject to the debt limit is $211,867,276. That means they’ve borrowed 43% of their debt limit,” Krebs said via email.
In addition, “City staff said detailed, up-to-date information was available on their portal, but the first information on this site says that their 2025 operating budget is $659M. Their 2025 budget book says it’s $519M, so that’s a $140M discrepancy. For this reason, we’ve never used this site for numbers because they don’t appear to be accurate.”
In addition, it wasn’t entirely clear from the commission’s discussion how much the added debt affects property taxes, utility rates and other expenses that come directly out of Lawrence residents’ pockets.
Tennessee, Kentucky bike lanes
A few members of the public asked the commission to consider funding about $887,000 to reconfigure Kentucky and Tennessee streets to add buffered bike lanes.
Michael Almon, of the Sustainability Action Network, said bicycle transportation advocates have submitted numerous bikeway projects over nearly two decades, and “we’re batting zero for any built.” This particular proposal would reduce Tennessee and Kentucky streets between Sixth and 19th streets to one lane of vehicle traffic and one bike lane, with a 3-foot-wide buffer in between.
“If staff restricts public CIP proposals to only those sanctioned by city matrices, staff can initiate those in-house, except that they don’t. So we do, but they’re never funded,” he said.
Finkeldei said he’d like to see how the city’s protected bike lanes that are already planned for construction work before building more of them.
Expansion fire station
The 2026-2030 CIP does include one expansion fire station for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical. Firefighter-medics have been pushing for the city and county to construct additional fire stations for years as the city has expanded in size and population, because LDCFM’s response times can make the difference between life and death.
Station No. 6 is proposed in the CIP for a total estimated cost of about $13 million over the next three years; however, the city does not yet have a plan to cover approximately $6 million in annual operating expenses. Station No. 7 is not included in funded projects.
Some LDCFM employees spoke during the meeting to express appreciation for Station No. 6’s inclusion. Commissioners generally agreed that the project was important, and they wanted to keep it in the CIP.
“I think we at least need to have Station 6 in there,” Commissioner Bart Littlejohn said. “I know that having Station 7 is a little bit more than we can process right now, but I think that gets us to a good spot to go ahead and start.”
Lawrence Farmers Market
The Lawrence Farmers Market has been seeking to establish a permanent location, rather than setting up each Saturday morning in the downtown parking lot at 824 New Hampshire St.
A permanent space could include shelter from the sun, rain and wind. The market loses about 30% of its customers when it rains, Emily Lysen, director of development for the market, has said. It could also extend the market’s season, which currently runs from mid-April through late November. Plus, an outdoor pavilion could be used for other events outside of market times.
“We have secured the first $40,000 included in the CIP request to do our feasibility study for a site location, showing our commitment and our capabilities,” Lysen told commissioners Tuesday evening. “And now we need a commitment from the city for the successful future of this project.”
City staff members are not recommending funding for the project, estimated at about $6 million. Commissioners said they wanted to look more closely at it and think creatively about ways to possibly make it happen. Funding sources could also include grants, Douglas County, and donations.
“This is a balance of community benefit as well as economic drivers,” Commissioner Amber Sellers said. “We are surrounded by ag; we need to look at that.”
More budget talks coming up
See the complete proposed 2026-2030 CIP in the commission’s meeting agenda at this link. The commission was not asked to take a formal vote on the CIP on Tuesday.
City Manager Craig Owens’ proposed budget will be the main focus of the commission’s Tuesday, July 8 meeting.
There will be additional budget discussions in the interim, but on Sept. 16, commissioners will consider adopting the budget and capital improvement plan.
Another possibility floated during the meeting was extending a 0.3% capital improvement sales tax that is currently set to sunset in March 2029. It would require Lawrence residents’ approval through a ballot question to renew it.
Tuesday’s was the last commission meeting to be livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel. Commissioners voted on June 3 to cease livestreaming meetings effective July 1, meaning those who wish to observe the meeting remotely in realtime will have to join future meetings via Zoom videoconference. Read more about that at this link.
You can sign up to receive notices from the city and agendas for upcoming meetings 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.
Lawrence city budget coverage
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
