The city’s finances are still healthy, but a new audit has found some areas of Lawrence’s financial performance are at new lows for the decade.

A new report by City Auditor Michael Eglinski found that the city’s financial position remains above area benchmarks in seven of the 11 categories that he measured. But the report also notes that city revenues have had a hard time keeping up with growing city expenses in several categories.

“I’m not sure I would call anything troubling yet, but there are some measures of resource growth that stand out,” Eglinski said. “They are quite a bit lower than they have been.”

The report measures totals for 2013, and it found two areas were at 10-year lows. They include:

• The city’s balance sheet is growing at its slowest rate since 2004. The balance sheet measures the amount of assets the city owns — everything from cash to building to roads — against the amount of liabilities or expenses the city has in a given year. The city’s assets in 2013 grew at a rate of less than 2 percent, while other benchmark cities saw their assets grow at about 4 percent.

Eglinski said some of the decrease stems from a loss of federal grant money that has been coming through the federal stimulus program. But Eglinski said the city’s books also show the general expenses increased by about $4.5 million.

“If expenses grow faster than taxes coming in, things will get tighter,” Eglinski said.

• The amount of money the city has to make the annual payments on water and sewer bonds is growing smaller, and it hit a 10-year low in 2013. The city had $5.27 million in sewer and water debt payments to make in 2013, and had $7.06 million in net revenue to make those payments. That is far less of a cushion than the city had just a year earlier, when the city had $4.5 million in debt payments but had $8.6 million in revenue.

Eglinski said the underlying issue is that debt for water and sewer project has increased significantly over the last decade, but the city’s revenues have not kept pace. He said the 2013 numbers were exacerbated by a wet weather year, which reduced the amount of water the city sold to customers.

City Manager David Corliss said his staff has been monitoring the numbers. He said the city has made a conscious decision to invest significant dollars in water and sewer infrastructure in an effort to head off problems down the road.

“We’re spending three times the amount of money on waterline replacement than we used to,” Corliss said. “That’s good for the community, but it does mean we’re spending more money.”

Corliss said he generally agrees with the findings of the latest audit.

“I think the conclusion is the results are mixed, and I would agree with that,” Corliss said.

He said he’s looking at several areas highlighted in the report, including a finding that the city’s inventory of vehicles and equipment is beginning to show its age, and may need significant replacements in the future. Corliss said his staff currently is reviewing an internal assessment of the city’s vehicle and equipment inventory, and expects equipment replacement costs will be a significant budget item during next summer’s budget process.

City commissioners will review Eglinski’s performance audit at their 6:35 p.m. meeting on Tuesday.