Like children writing a letter to Santa, Lawrence residents seem to have no trouble coming up with a wish list of items they want or need.

A big new library, an initiative to acquire industrial land and open space, a new sports complex for the community’s young people.

And, also like the letter-writing children, the advocates of such improvements often show little concern about how or by whom their wishes will be financed.

Unfortunately, although all of the initiatives listed above are great ideas and would be worthy additions to Lawrence, they won’t magically appear under someone’s Christmas tree. They must be paid for by the hard-earned tax dollars of Lawrence residents.

Sandwiched as it is between Topeka and the Kansas City metropolitan area, Lawrence has ample temptation to engage in a game of “keeping up with the Joneses.” In recent months, local residents frequently have pointed in envy at library and athletic facilities, particularly in Topeka, and asked “Why can’t we have one of those?”

It would be wonderful if Lawrence could match those facilities, but we have neither the population nor the tax base to support the same kind of public services available in Topeka or Olathe. Ironically, some of the local residents who favor some of those facilities are less than welcoming to the kinds of business and industry Lawrence needs to attract in order to build its tax base to support such amenities.

Another irony is that, while some parents decry the inconvenience of driving their children to athletic facilities in other cities, we are all too willing to travel to those cities to shop, leaving behind the sales tax dollars that also could help finance local projects.

The fact is that desirable projects like recreation facilities and even the library have to be weighed against basic infrastructure needs facing the city: additional street maintenance, storm water drainage in North Lawrence, new industrial land and an $80 million waste water treatment plant, to name a few.

“We have to start prioritizing some of these projects,” came the voice of reason this week from Mayor Mike Amyx. “There are lots of needs out there, lots of wants, too. At some point, we’re going to have to say some of these good ideas are going to have to wait in line. : Taxpayers can only afford so much.”

It’s great that local residents want Lawrence to have the best of everything – we need to aim high – but not driving taxpayers out of their homes also is a quality-of-life issue.

Dreams are great, but, lacking the magic of Santa, Lawrence officials will have to choose what wishes to grant now and which ones to put off. And Lawrence residents like children on Christmas morning, will have to accept the fact that they won’t always get everything they want.