In the rotunda lined with statues and other artwork, Lawrence city officials begin a guided tour Thursday of the Topeka Public Library. Completed in 2001, the facility is 187,000 square feet, serves 2,500 people per day and has a yearly budget of 9 million. This compares with the Lawrence Public Library, which is 45,000 square feet, serves about 1,500 people per day and has a yearly budget of million. City commissioners say the proposals for a new and improved Lawrence library likely will need to be scaled back for financial reasons.

Forget about the Joneses. When it comes to libraries, keeping up with Topeka is quite a chore.

And after touring the capital city’s much-acclaimed library, Lawrence city commissioners on Thursday essentially said they weren’t going to try.

Several city commissioners said despite four ambitious proposals from private developers for a new and improved Lawrence Public Library, they likely will look at paring back the scale of the proposed project.

“We need to have a real discussion on the size and the dollar amount of a new library,” Mayor Mike Amyx said. “We need to give our library board a dollar amount we’re comfortable with.

“But I’ll be honest with you. I think $50 million is way too much.”

Under the four public-private partnership proposals that city commissioners received in May, all required public financing of nearly $40 million or more, though they all also included ancillary retail or residential development expected to produce new tax revenue. The one proposal to simply expand the existing library building also resulted in a public price tag of about $50 million.

“I think we may have to scale back a little more than where we’re at already with the proposals,” Commissioner Boog Highberger said.

That could mean a smaller building than previously proposed. The city had asked developers to present plans for a library in the 130,000-square-foot range, or nearly three times the size of the current building at Seventh and Vermont streets.

“I think all of the proposals are presenting something larger than we need to build,” said City Commissioner David Schauner, who said he wanted to look at creating a bookmobile service to reduce the size requirements for a new library. “I just don’t think we need a library that big.”

Commissioners made their comments after seeing what significant funding can buy. Commissioners took an extensive tour of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, which was built over a four-year period for about $23 million. It opened in 2001.

“This is one of the great libraries in the country, let alone Kansas,” said Bruce Flanders, director of the Lawrence Public Library.

The library – just west of downtown Topeka – draws about 2,500 people per day, and hosts approximately 6,000 meetings per year in its 10 meeting rooms. It boasts a children’s room that is approximately six to seven times the size of the one in the Lawrence library, has multiple study rooms, an after-school program designed to help students with homework, a 500-piece art gallery, a used book store and a restaurant.

But it all comes at a cost. The library has its own board of trustees – appointed by the city council and county commission – which has taxing authority. For 2007, the library is set to have a property tax rate of 9.6 mills, or about $165 in property taxes per year for the owner of a $150,000 home. That will support a $19 million budget and about 200 full-time employees. Lawrence’s current library operates on a budget of about $3 million and has 45 full-time employees.

Gina Millsap, left, executive director of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, gives David Corliss, interim city manager of Lawrence, a tour of the young adult section of the library. Lawrence city officials toured the Topeka Public Library on Thursday.

The field trip gave city commissioners a good idea of what’s possible. Architect Steve Clark, who has been hired by the city as a consultant, estimated the Topeka building would cost about $50 million to build in Lawrence – in 2008 dollars. That cost also does not include any of the 400 parking spaces library planners have said they would like as part of a new facility.

“Topeka has been very successful in convincing the community that it needs a better library than what it has,” said City Commissioner Sue Hack. “We probably have some work to do on that still.”

The tour attracted about 20 people from Lawrence, including several library supporters.

“I would hope this trip would cause people to say that if Topeka can do this that we can do it,” said John Nalbandian, chairman of the Lawrence Public Library’s board of trustees. “I know if we had this in Lawrence, it would be packed.”