City looking to trim budget

Commission to hear ideas next week in response to estimated $1M shortfall

Shorter swimming pool hours, less grass cutting at city parks and several other cost-saving measures are heading toward the desks of city commissioners.

City Manager David Corliss on Tuesday alerted city leaders that he intends to submit a list of budget-cutting ideas for commissioners to consider at their meeting next week.

“There are a number of impacts we’ll have to deal with, and some of them are pretty substantial,” Corliss said.

Corliss is working to cut the city’s current budget by up to 3 percent in response to new projections estimating that revenues for the 2007 budget will fall about $1 million short of expectations.

City commissioners had ordered Corliss to look for budget cuts, and they stood behind that direction at their Tuesday evening meeting.

“I think it is expected of us to be fiscally responsible,” City Commissioner Mike Dever said. “Nobody wants to hear that things are going to have to be cut. Nobody wants to hear that pool hours might have to be cut. I don’t want to hear that, but if we can’t operate it in the budget that we have, we have to look at that.”

Corliss said he hadn’t made a decision on whether to recommend a cutback in pool hours, but said that was an item he was studying. He said he’s studying whether the city’s swimming pools could close earlier in the evening, and whether they need to remain in operation through Labor Day.

Commissioner Mike Amyx said he also wants residents to understand what’s behind some of the city’s financial problems: rising oil prices.

Amyx said the city’s budget is being hurt not just by the increasing amount of money the city is paying for gasoline for city fleets and for asphalt and other petroleum-based products. He said the city also is hurt by residents being forced to spend more money on gasoline, which leaves them less money to spend on traditional retail items that generate sales taxes.

The city does not collect a traditional, percentage-based sales tax on gasoline sales. Instead it receives a portion of a flat-fee excise tax that is charged on the gallons of gasoline bought. During times of high gasoline prices, the city generally receives less “gas tax” money because people are buying fewer gallons of gasoline.

Amyx said he wanted the city staff to write a letter to the state’s congressional delegation highlighting how rising oil prices are creating serious financial problems not only for families but also for communities.

“I see profits going through the roof at the oil companies,” Amyx said. “I see a lot of big money going to the CEOs. And here we have a lack of revenues for great services that we have been providing forever. It is just outrageous the profits that they’re making.”

Commissioners will meet at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to discuss the list of proposed budget cuts.

Commission OKs road improvements

A new traffic signal and roundabout are slated for the area near George Williams Way and Sixth Street.

City commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved the long-discussed improvements for the developing area in west Lawrence.

The project is part of road improvements the city is requiring to accommodate new retail, office and residential development that has been approved for the area near Sixth Street and the South Lawrence Trafficway.

The improvements include:

¢ a traffic signal and new left and right turn lanes at George Williams Way and Sixth Street.

¢ a roundabout at George Williams Way and Ken Ridge Drive, which is just south of Sixth Street.

¢ an extension of George Williams Way to take the street north of Sixth Street. The new road will be seven lanes wide near the intersection with Sixth Street. It will include two northbound and two southbound through lanes, two left turn lanes and one right turn lane onto Sixth Street.

Work is expected to begin in spring 2008. The city will spend $200,000 on the project. The remainder will be paid for by developers who own property in the area.