The City of Lawrence’s proposed 2027 budget would increase the property tax rate, and the city would ask voters to approve a transit sales tax increase.
City commissioners will discuss the proposal during their Tuesday, July 7 meeting.
The proposed new mill levy, or property tax rate, is 36.060, up 2.35 mills from 33.712 this year. That would include increasing the property tax rate for the library to a maximum of 4.5 mills from 4.093.
The median sale price of a home in Lawrence over the past two years was $325,000, according to a recently completed housing study. The owner of a home valued at $325,000 would have owed the city about $1,260 in property taxes this year. Under the proposed new rate, the owner would owe the city about $1,348 in property taxes, an increase of $88.
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In addition, Douglas County homes’ valuations increased by an average of 5%. If a $325,000 home’s value rose 5% to $341,250, the property owner would owe the city about $1,415, an increase of $155.
Property owners also pay taxes to the county, school district and state. In Lawrence, property taxes break down to about 41% to Lawrence Public Schools, 32% to the county, 26% to the city and 1% to the state.
The total citywide budget is $415.3 million.
Reasons cited for the increase
The biggest driver of the property tax increase is because the city is planning for Fire Station 6, which will be built at Sixth Street and Stoneridge Drive.
“While Station 6 is not expected to open until January 2029, before we can proceed with the design and construction for the new station, we must have a plan to fund the ongoing operations,” Acting City Manager Casey Toomay wrote in a memo attached to the budget.
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The proposed budget includes staffing for Engine 6 — the fire engine for Station 6 — to be deployed in the upcoming year, Toomay wrote.
“Bringing Engine 6 into service early provides immediate, measurable benefits by enhancing the department’s ability to contain fires more rapidly, assemble an effective response force consistent with established standards, and improve initial fire attack performance,” she wrote.
The city also plans to increase employee wages by 2.5%, plus step increases for people who are eligible, and healthcare costs have increased significantly, Toomay wrote.
In addition, “We are currently in active discussions with multiple labor groups, so the proposed budget also includes some provisional funding to support Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) that are anticipated to come out of those discussions,” she wrote.
Altogether, the budget includes nearly $15 million in additional pay and benefits for the city’s 952 budgeted positions, and almost half of that increase will address healthcare costs, Toomay wrote.
The library’s Board of Trustees approved a budget that would raise its mill levy in order to confront rising health insurance costs and to allocate funding to the capital improvement fund for large projects, Toomay wrote.
Transit sales tax
Lawrence voters have to approve any sales tax increases the city proposes in order for them to go into effect. Most recently, in November 2024, 53.6% of voters said yes to increasing a sales tax to support affordable housing and homelessness services.
Lawrence Transit currently receives funding from a 0.2% sales tax, and city staff members are asking commissioners to put a question on voters’ ballots so voters can determine whether to increase it to 0.3%. Commissioners have previously indicated they’re in favor of the request.
The sales tax currently costs 4 cents per $20 spent in the city, or 20 cents per $100 spent. If voters were to approve, that would increase to 6 cents per $20, or 30 cents per $100 spent. The proposed budget presumes that voters will approve the increase.
Transit buses have been fare-free since January 2023. Without an increase, current route frequency, fare-free bus rides and the long-planned downtown transit station could be in jeopardy, according to previous information provided to the commission.
If commissioners approve, the sales tax increase question will appear on voters’ Nov. 3 ballots. It’s unclear from information provided when the sales tax would sunset, but the current tax is set to sunset in 2029.
Other budget notes
City commissioners began discussing the budget in March. Read more about how the process has gone so far in previous articles at this link.
One issue that arose in earlier budget discussions was a plan to cut school resource officers and downtown foot patrols. The proposed budget would continue to deploy those police officers, according to the agenda.
Commissioners have also continued their discussions of recreation centers. In particular, Vice Mayor Mike Courtney has advocated for the city to keep the Community Building’s recreational facilities open to the public with no access fees required to enter. The other three rec centers — East Lawrence, Holcom Park and Sports Pavilion Lawrence — all now require access fees to enter.
An estimate staff provided to the commission last month said the cost to keep the Community Building open for rec center use for the entire year would be $69,000.
Under the proposed budget, the city would operate the building “for programmed use only, no funding identified to support staffing for open public access,” according to the agenda.
Next steps
City commissioners will hear a presentation on the budget during their meeting coming up Tuesday, July 7. People can provide public comment on the proposed budget at that time.
They will vote on a maximum mill rate, or maximum property tax rate, during their meeting on July 14, according to the agenda. After that point, they can vote to lower the budget, but they cannot increase their spending authority.
Commissioners will hold their formal budget hearings on Sept. 1 and consider final adoption of the budget on Sept. 15, according to the timeline.
The proposed Douglas County budget would keep the property tax rate flat. Read more about that in the article at this link.
Meeting info
Commissioners will meet starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, but they have two executive sessions on the agenda. The regular meeting will likely begin at or after 6:05 p.m. Meetings are held at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.
The commission accepts written public comment emailed to [email protected] until noon the day of meetings. The commission also hears live public comment during meetings, both in person and virtually.
City commission meetings are no longer livestreamed on YouTube. In order to watch the meeting online remotely, attendees must join via Zoom at this link, which also allows participants to provide public comment virtually. Meeting recordings are uploaded to the city’s YouTube channel the next day.
See the commission’s complete meeting agenda at this link. See the budget agenda item and proposed capital improvement plan at this link.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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