Here’s a number that should scare Lawrence residents: 78.01.

That’s the mill levy for the school district in nearby Gardner. It is the highest of any school district in the state. As a leader of the district recently told the Journal-World, there’s a simple reason it is so high.

Eric Hansen, director of business and finance for the Gardner-Edgerton school district, said it is because the city is “primarily a bedroom community.”

“We’re growing 200 to 300 kids a year, but our tax base is 75 to 80 percent noncommercial,” he said. “So it falls on residential.”

Sound familiar? For Lawrence residents it very well could begin sounding more familiar as each year passes. The Lawrence school district is considering a 6-mill property tax increase on Monday that would increase the district’s mill levy to nearly 59 mills.

A mill levy of 78 mills may not be right around the corner for Lawrence, but it does seem to be in the same ZIP code. That’s because the underlying problem in Gardner is the same problem that Lawrence faces – too few commercial and industrial businesses.

Commercial and industrial businesses are taxed at a rate that is more than twice that of residential properties. They also have the potential to inject wealth by attracting sales from outside the community.

It is clear that additional commercial and industrial projects can do wonders for a city’s property tax base. For example, business-friendly Overland Park has a city mill levy of just 9 mills. That’s compared with a city mill levy of 26 mills for Lawrence.

Despite those obvious facts, Lawrence commercial projects often become bogged down by a painful planning process that many times focuses on everything but the big-picture tax benefits of new development. Think about it: When a new commercial retail project comes before the city for approval, there’s a long list of items reviewed. They include traffic consequences, the effect on Downtown Lawrence, how well the development fits in with a neighborhood, whether the project is pedestrian-friendly. But nowhere is there a report from anyone in City Hall about how much new tax revenue the project is expected to produce.

Perhaps it is that attitude that has created the situation where nearly 69 percent of Lawrence’s property tax base comes from residential development. That’s the highest of eight other Kansas cities that city staff members researched.

So what new initiatives are city commissioners undertaking to address the situation? Well, they should be commended for approving an expansion of Berry Plastics, which will create jobs and property taxes. They also added $250,000 to next year’s budget to create a modest economic development incentives fund. In that same budget, they also added an economic development planner, although that position could end up being more of a hindrance than a help if it brings more bureaucracy to the approval process.

Those initiatives may be a fine start, but city leaders need to understand that the time is now for good ideas to turn into good results. Far too many area communities seem to be bolder and more innovative in growing their commercial and industrial tax bases.

If talk doesn’t turn into action soon, Lawrence residents may someday be greeted with tax bills like our neighbors in Gardner face. The only positive thing to come out of that would be that Lawrence residents could make a case that we’re not really a bedroom community.

After all, with tax bills like that, how could anyone ever get a good night’s sleep?