After budget cuts to cities, counties and schools, state lawmakers have local officials just where they want them — asking for nothing more than to be left alone.

That was the tone of a session Tuesday between Lawrence-area officials and Douglas County legislators to discuss the 2003 legislative session that starts Monday.

At the annual presession meeting, local officials usually present a wish list of programs and funding increases they would like the Legislature to deliver.

But with the state mired in a record deficit estimated at $800 million, city, county and school officials said they didn’t expect any funding increases.

So they asked lawmakers to not impose more mandates without sending along the money necessary to carry out those orders.

Lawrence school Supt. Randy Weseman said policy-makers in Congress and the Statehouse often didn’t understand the effect their actions have on local districts. Recently, the State Board of Education increased the academic requirements for graduation at the same time lawmakers were saying state funding levels for public schools could fall to 1998 levels, he said.

“We are under so many mandates that are unfunded it’s almost impossible to produce an education system this community will accept,” Weseman said.

Douglas County Commissioner Bob Johnson said the partnerships between state and local governments “are failing” because the Legislature has been unwilling to make the tough decisions to balance the budget.

Lawmakers approved about $300 million in tax increases last year, but Gov. Bill Graves has had to cut spending twice since because revenues fell short. Some of those cuts have been at the expense of schools, counties and cities.

Johnson told lawmakers to balance the budget in a way that doesn’t require more cuts after counties have set their spending plans.

“We strongly object to the loss of revenue after budgets have been set,” he said.

Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, center, talks with Lawrence school board Supt. Randy Weseman, right, after a Chamber of Commerce-sponsored breakfast forum. Listening at left is Lawrence resident Emily Taylor. Nearly 100 people packed into the Eldridge Hotel on Tuesday to meet with state lawmakers from Douglas County to discuss the 2003 legislative session that starts Monday.

He said the state often forces local governments to make hard choices by requiring certain expenses but not providing the money for them. A county example, he said, is state law that dictates staffing levels at county lockups yet doesn’t provide enough reimbursement for state prisoners kept at county facilities.

Lawrence Mayor Sue Hack urged lawmakers to oppose any legislation that would restrict how local governments raise or spend money.

“Local spending and taxing decisions should be made by locally elected officials,” she said.

¢ 6News video: Local leaders ask for break on budget cuts

Mark Buhler, a Republican who will be sworn in Monday as Lawrence’s state senator, said the budget gap was so wide that a tax increase would be needed to make ends meet. He said he was willing to vote for a plan that adequately funded state government without a tax increase, but he added that such a plan probably didn’t exist.

“I’m not afraid to raise taxes,” he said, adding that the crucial factor is whose taxes would be raised.

Lawrence Chamber of Commerce officials released a survey of its members that showed education and economic development as their main legislative priorities.

Other lawmakers at the forum included state Reps. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, and Rob Boyer, R-Olathe.