Population growth is creating some new challenge for officials and residents in Baldwin.

Much like Lawrence residents, people in Baldwin soon may become increasingly aware of the need to develop a broad tax base to support the cost of maintaining local services.

Various factors, including a recent study showing that 20 percent of Lawrence workers have jobs outside the city, have raised concerns about Lawrence becoming a bedroom community that is too dependent on residential property taxes to support city services and infrastructure. That concern also has spurred new interest in attracting industries that not only would provide local jobs for people who currently commute but would contribute to the city’s tax base and share the cost of providing schools and other services for local residents.

It’s one of the challenges of a growing, healthy community to maintain a balanced tax base that can provide needed jobs and support the quality of life its residents enjoy.

Now comes news from the southern Douglas County city of Baldwin, which is home to Baker University but few other industries or major employers. Despite the relative scarcity of jobs, Baldwin’s population is growing and officials are preparing for what the school superintendent called an “explosion” of growth in the years to come.

Those plans include a $7.9 million bond issue approved in November to build a new elementary school and expand other schools in the Baldwin district and a new $3.8 million sewage treatment plant already under construction. The city is considering a $3 million upgrade to its electrical plant and construction of two new 750,000-gallon water towers to serve the larger population.

Some of the cost of expanding water, sewer and electric services can be recouped through user fees, but the school bonds will have to be repaid through property taxes. If the commercial tax base is low, that responsibility will fall mainly on residential property owners.

Whether it’s in Baldwin or Lawrence, everyone benefits from improved services and schools, but both officials and residents need to be mindful of the need to attract new business and industry to their communities. Those businesses help support the city’s tax base and provide jobs that allow more people to work and maintain stronger involvement in their home communities.

The challenges presented by growth in a community are far preferable to the challenges being faced by many Kansas communities that are losing population. Communities that can balance their tax bases and capitalize on the opportunities of growth are in a good position to maintain a strong quality of life in the years ahead.