Some of the city’s larger social service agencies are being ordered to make do with less as the result of a serious budget crunch at City Hall.

Organizations such as Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Salvation Army and Boys and Girls Club have been told they’ll receive 6 percent less in city funding than what commissioners previously approved for the 2007 budget.

The reductions are part of an effort by City Manager David Corliss to find $3.5 million of budget cuts to respond to an expected decline in sales tax revenues and a slowdown in the area’s real estate market.

“I’m sure it will have a negative impact on the ability of those agencies to deliver services,” Corliss said of the outside agency cuts.

Corliss is ordering the 6 percent cuts for all outside agencies that receive city funding. He’s also recommending several city positions remain unfilled this year, including director positions for human relations and parks and recreation. He also recommends changes to police recruiting, which will slow how quickly vacancies are filled.

The Lawrence Public Library also will be hit by the cuts. Corliss is ordering a 6 percent cut to its budget: $177,000.

“They won’t be able to absorb that,” Corliss said. “There will be a service cut.”

Attempts to reach Library Director Bruce Flanders were unsuccessful.

Social service leaders on Friday tried to take the news in stride. David Johnson, chief executive officer at Bert Nash, said the organization’s WRAP program that reaches out to at-risk youth would find a way to maintain services despite a $15,000 cut. But he’s concerned for the future.

“If there is no WRAP program in the future, I’m sure it would make a huge difference in dropout rates and youth violence,” Johnson said. “We’ll certainly be watching how the city makes budget decisions very closely.”