Lawrence will respond to cuts in state aid by imposing a near-freeze on the hiring of replacement employees, and won’t hire a number of new employees that were expected in 2003.

City Manager Mike Wildgen unveiled the proposed cuts Friday. City officials have said they expect the city will lose $1.3 million in state aid under emergency budget cuts made last month by Gov. Bill Graves.

The police department had expected to hire five new detectives in 2003; that won’t happen now. Neither will the hiring of three new emergency dispatchers, three new Fire & Medical workers, a staff attorney for public safety, a long-range planner for the Planning Department and a civil engineer.

For more on this story, see the 6News report at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband cable Channel 6 and pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal-World.