Douglas County commissioners know they have plenty of work to do in the months ahead.

Now they just need to decide what to spend their time and energy working on, whether it’s boosting school financing, tightening development regulations, building a parking lot or acting on any of the other nearly two dozen issues that have been suggested, debated or anticipated in recent months.

“I just don’t want to drop the ball on these issues,” said Commissioner Charles Jones, referring to a list of work items compiled by county administrators. “Some of them, we’ll just say, ‘Forget about it,’ and others we’ll say, ‘Let’s get something done here.’ But we have to figure out whether there’s two votes to move one direction or another.”

The determinations will come beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, when the county’s three commissioners meet to mull setting priorities for issues to be addressed during the next 12 months. The meeting will be at the County Courthouse, 1100 Mass.

The purpose is for Craig Weinaug, county administrator, to confirm or adjust the directions he has extrapolated from commissioners’ previous comments and instructions.

Among issues on the list:

• School financing. Jones has suggested assuming financial responsibility for nursing programs that serve public schools in the county. All three commissioners tentatively have said they would support calling an election that would determine whether sales tax rates should be increased to help finance schools, but such support would come only if such an election were requested by the Lawrence school board.
• Courthouse parking. Decide whether county-owned lots in the 1100 block of Rhode Island Street should be used as parking lots or sold for development of housing.
• Fire protection in Marion Township. The township, with 600 residents in the county’s southwest corner, needs a fire station, commissioners say. The township currently pays Osage County Fire District No. 4 to provide fire service, but the nearest station is in Overbrook, some 18 miles away.
• Sales tax shortfall. Revenues from the 1-cent countywide sales tax approved in 1994 — money used to finance construction of the county jail — are running behind projections, and are expected to fall short of commitments in three years. Additional money from property taxes may need to be set aside next year to avoid a large increase down the road, Weinaug said.
• Urban growth area. Expanding it could lead to development that costs more now but could save taxpayers later.
• Capital improvements. The county has more than $11 million in bridge repairs, revamps or replacements expected during the next decade but no money set aside for such projects.
• Farmland future. Should the county help clean up or develop the shuttered Farmland Industries fertilizer plant at the southeastern edge of Lawrence?
• Barn building. Bob Johnson, commission chairman, has suggested requiring that building permits be issued for construction of agricultural buildings, such as barns. Such structures currently are exempt from permit regulation.