Now that the city has recouped nearly $700,000 in miscellaneous payments that went uncollected, one of the questions is what should be done with those dollars.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission received the final report from the auditing firm RSM related to the missing payments. Commissioner Mike Amyx said he could not help thinking about the money, which was not part of the city’s 2018 budget, when he was paying his property taxes.

“As I stood in line paying my taxes yesterday at the courthouse, I couldn’t help but think that had we collected that amount of money, there would have been an impact on the increase that we had in our mill levy,” Amyx said.

Lawrence residents will see a city property tax increase of 1.25 mills for 2018, costing the owner of a $175,000 home an additional $25 annually in city property taxes. The City Commission also approved an increase in utility rates that will cost the average resident another $65 annually.

City Manager Tom Markus agreed that had the money been collected when it should have been, those increases might not have been as much. Though it is the commission’s decision, Markus said that during the next budget process he thinks the commission should seriously consider not increasing the property tax rate by that same extent.

“I think you ought to give it some thought,” Markus said. “These were funds that, if they had been collected, I don’t think our rate would have been the same, I don’t think maybe some fees would have been the same.”

Miscellaneous billings are not currently part of the city’s annual financial audit, and many of the payments had not been billed or paid for several years. As part of its meeting, the commission received the final audit report performed by RSM, which includes recommendations for how the city can improve its billing process.

One of those recommendations is that the city automate its billing process and billing audits. The city’s current billing system has limited ability for such automation, and Markus said he thinks that some of the money should also go toward improving the software.

Amyx, whose term is scheduled to end next month, said as commissioners build the budget next year, they should consider who should receive the benefit of those dollars. He said he agreed with Markus that it should go back to the taxpayers as part of the budget.

“I concur with the city manager that we return it back to the people who actually pay,” Amyx said. “With the increase we had to do, I think that’s important.”

Most of the agenda item was spent discussing the report from RSM, and other commissioners did not comment on what they thought the funds should be spent on. The commission voted unanimously to receive the report, and staff indicated they would continue to implement the recommendations to improve the billing process.

The city ordered an outside audit of its billing practices in June after it was discovered that land lease invoices had not been sent to the Riverfront Plaza for several years. RSM reported that the lack of a comprehensive list of billings, billing procedures and quality controls caused many of the errors. Problems with the data conversion from the city’s old billing system to the current system also contributed.

Since that initial discovery, reviews by RSM auditors and city staff found a total of $690,000 in payments for land leases, building leases and other agreements that were not billed or paid. The city has now collected all but $940, according to a memo from city staff to the commission. That includes about $256,000 from the Riverfront and $428,000 from Douglas County.

In other business, the commission:

Voted 4-1, Amyx dissenting, to approve a city staff recommendation to discontinue the use of grocery store drop boxes for city utility payments. City staff say about 600 customers use the drop boxes monthly, which is equal to less than 2 percent of the city’s 32,000 utility customers. Staff cited several issues with the drop boxes, including that the boxes are not locked, payments may take up to six days to process, and that receipts or time stamps are not provided.

Voted unanimously to approve economic incentives as part of the city’s Catalyst Program for an expansion of the Plastikon Healthcare plant in the East Hills Business Park. Plastikon is requesting a 70 percent, 10-year property tax abatement on the initial phase of its expansion, which calls for a 50,000-square-foot addition and will add at least 13 jobs.