There’s no question who pays the bill.

Fees or taxes. Either way Lawrence residents pay.

“I think service fees are naturally more palatable than property tax increases,” Mayor David Dunfield said this week during a discussion of the city budget.

That may be true, but it’s still money out of the taxpayers’ pockets.

The city is considering increasing: admission to public swimming pools; fees to play golf at the city’s Eagle Bend Golf Course; the cost of a burial plot at a city cemetery ;and the city’s wastewater fee. The fees to swim, play golf or bury a loved one seem more fair, in a way, because only the people who benefits directly from the service must pay the fee.

The wastewater fee is a little different because it affects virtually all Lawrence residents, whether they own property or rent. In that way, it looks a lot like the property tax increases the City Commission says it is trying to avoid.

No official likes to raise taxes. The governor and the Kansas Legislature went to great lengths this year to balance the budget without raising taxes. They didn’t raise taxes, but many of the measures they approved will, nonetheless, take money away from state taxpayers. Hopefully the City Commission won’t engage in the kind of budgetary smoke and mirrors that marked state budget negotiations, but raising fees to avoid tax increases doesn’t mean the public won’t have to pay.

Fees or taxes. Either way, Lawrence residents pay.