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The Lawrence City Commission has increased the city utility rates each of the last five years and are planning substantial increases for the next three years, too. This means the city will have increased their utility rates an average of 6% to 8% per year for eight years in a row.
Between 2020 and 2028, the cumulative increase will be between 60% and 82%, or even more, depending on household type and size.
Although other Kansas utility companies have raised their rates this year, they have not done so repeatedly as the city has done. Black Hills raised its rates 9% in 2025, but their last rate increase was in 2014. Evergy’s rates will increase 9.6% in October, and they have increased their rates only one other time since their creation in 2018.
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An important goal in the city’s strategic plan is to provide access to affordable housing, yet rising utility fees reduce housing affordability.
The city commission and city staff spend a lot of time examining the projects these rate increases are paying for. But they spend little time examining the financial impact of these increases on our residents and on the affordability of our community’s housing.
How will these increases affect you?
The Coalition for Collaborative Governance researched each one of the city’s utility rate increases since 2020 to analyze how they are affecting Lawrence households. City staff doesn’t provide this historical comparative data, so we shared our research with the city commission so they could better understand the impact of their decisions on an average Lawrence household and on households of different sizes and types.
Our coalition also believes that Lawrence residents should have access to this information, so here’s a chart that shows how these utility fee increases have and will affect single-family and multifamily households with one to five people in them. It shows estimated monthly and yearly city utility costs in 2028. It also shows the total expected increase in yearly costs from 2020 to 2028 and the total percent increase during that 8-year period.
Our analysis revealed that a family of four in a single-family home should expect to pay about $240 per month for their city utility bill in 2028. Annually, this family would pay $1,300 more in 2028 than they would have paid in 2020. A single resident in a single-family home would expect to pay $110 per month in 2028 and to pay $520 more annually in 2028 than in 2020.
Residents living in multifamily homes, such as apartments, should expect slightly lower increases, and very low-income elderly residents receive a 65% discount on their city utility bills. For context, the median household income in Lawrence is $63,000.
Increases in some of the utility fees have a greater impact on larger households. This means costs for a family of four in a single-family home would increase 82% in this eight-year period, while a single resident in a similar home faces a 70% increase in their fees. These rate increases are likely more than double inflation, which can be expected to be around 33% from 2020 to 2028.
Next Lawrence City Commission meeting
On Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will vote on two more increases to these utility fees.
They will also vote on approving a $57 million contract for part of the $130 million Municipal Services and Operations campus, which is one of the major projects these increased utility fees are helping pay for.
Commissioners will meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. Commissioners hear public comment in person and virtually during meetings. People can provide public comment in writing until noon the day of the meeting by emailing ccagendas@lawrenceks.org. See the complete meeting agenda at this link.
In the future, we hope city staff will present more information to the commission about the financial impact of utility fee increases on Lawrence residents and that the commission considers this impact during their deliberations.
*Our calculations are based on the city’s utility billing department’s estimate of 1,500 gallons of water used per person per month. If you want to figure your estimated water bill based on different usage numbers, check out our more extensive charts that show all parts of your utility bill and how they’ve changed each year.
Thank you to Melinda Harger of the city’s Municipal Services and Operations department for helping us find some baseline data that the city had not provided before, and to Commissioner Amber Sellers for suggesting that we provide more specific data for different household sizes and types.
References:
• Preliminary water service and sewage disposal service schedule, Agenda Item Report, 8/9/22.
• Solid waste service, Agenda Item Report, 10/14/25.
• Solid waste service, Agenda Item Report, 11/19/24.
• Solid waste service, Agenda Item Report, 12/12/23.
• Solid waste service, Agenda Item Report, 11/15/22.
• Solid waste service, Agenda Item Report, 11/16/21.
• Solid waste service, Agenda Item Report, 8/13/19.
• Stormwater service, Agenda Item Report, 10/14/25.
• Stormwater service, Agenda Item Report, 11/19/24.
• Stormwater service, Agenda Item Report, 12/10/23.
• Stormwater service, Agenda Item Report, 12/20/22.
• Stormwater service, Agenda Item Report, 12/7/21.
• Stormwater service, Agenda Item Report, 12/8/20.
• U.S. Census Bureau, Quick Facts, Lawrence city, Kansas, 2023.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, Midwest region.
• Water service and sewage disposal service schedule, Agenda Item Report, 9/12/25.
• Water service and sewage disposal service schedule, Agenda Item report, 11/15/22.
• Water service and sewage disposal service schedule, Agenda Item Report, 11/16/21.
• Water service and sewage disposal service schedule, Agenda Item Report, 12/8/20.
About the writer
Holly Krebs (she/her) is the lead organizer of the Coalition for Collaborative Governance. She has a background in public policy and was a Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commissioner before changing career paths to become a health care practitioner. She is a longtime Lawrencian who operates Kinetikos Healing Collective and is the mother of three children.
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More Community Voices:
Holly Krebs: How will Lawrence’s utility rate increases affect your household? Here are the numbers (Column)
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