At a forum in one of the city’s older neighborhoods, Lawrence City Commission candidates discussed how they would take care of aging areas of town.

A spirited crowd of about 25 people turned out for the North Lawrence Improvement Assn.’s candidate forum Monday night. The four candidates who attended told the crowd that older neighborhoods didn’t always receive their due from City Hall.

“A lot of the needs you have over here in North Lawrence will take money, and we have to come up with a plan to do that,” candidate Mike Amyx said.

Amyx said he would support a new policy at City Hall that would earmark a certain portion of new tax dollars generated by growth to take care of aging infrastructure.

The plan revealed differences among the candidates. Both Jim Carpenter and incumbent David Schauner told the crowd that new residential growth often created more in cost than it actually generated in tax dollars.

“We need to find a way to make sure new development pays its own way,” Carpenter said.

Schauner said he also thought the city’s capital improvement process, which determines needed infrastructure repairs or projects, was due for an overhaul.

“We need to rank projects by their actual need,” Schauner said. “It shouldn’t be based on political power. That is a real pet peeve of mine.”

Incumbent Sue Hack told the crowd, though, that growth can play a role in helping older neighborhoods. Hack said the decision by Protection One, a monitored security company, to move its corporate headquarters from Topeka to North Lawrence’s I-70 Business Center was an example of how growth could produce new benefits to a neighborhood.

“That is the type of development that can cause more people to be here, which could attract more businesses to locate here,” Hack said. “I think there is a potential for a real rebirth on North Second Street.”

Tom Bracciano, the fifth candidate in the race, did not attend the forum. Bracciano, a school district administrator, was at a Lawrence school board meeting.

Voters will go to the polls April 5 to fill three at-large seats on the commission.