For the past three years, the city of Lawrence’s auditor has been making the same suggestion. But it seems no one’s been hearing him.

Auditor Michael Eglinski believes the city should develop a policy — yes, another policy — that guides how and when money collected from Lawrence water and sewer customers can be used by other departments. It may seem like a simple procedural matter, but each year, millions of dollars that customers pay for water and sewer service are being used to finance other city expenses, ranging from street work to legal fees.

In next year’s budget, for example, $3.08 million in water and sewer collections is targeted for transfer to other departments. Lawrence’s practice of transferring such funds isn’t unusual. Other cities do that, too.

While there is no policy in place, no one is hinting at any impropriety at city hall.

What is troubling, however, is that the city has no guidelines governing those transfers, and that raises the question of whether city water and sewer customers are bolstering the budgets of other city departments that really should be financed by taxes. The bottom line: The city should have greater transparency about who — taxpayer or ratepayer — is financing what. Are city water and sewer customers paying for services or facilities that should be financed by local taxpayers?

The findings of an audit that Eglinski completed in recent years showed that Lawrence transferred a larger percentage of its fee and rate dollars than any of the other 15 university communities he studied. He plans to update that study, and it will be interesting to see where Lawrence currently ranks.

Lawrence City Manager David Corliss said he thinks it’s appropriate to transfer funds to cover certain expenses. Say, for example, if a water line breaks, city street crews have to repair the road.

But is that being applied consistently across all departments? The city’s parks and recreation department, for example, does not pay the water department to fill swimming pools at Lawrence’s aquatic centers.

It would seem that if one department is being charged for expenses, all departments should be charged.

That could be addressed in a policy, which the city should seriously consider putting in place.