The battle is on, and it appears it won’t just be about whether the city needs a new $28 million police headquarters.

It also may end up being about Rock Chalk Park.

Opponents of a 0.2 percent sales tax to pay for the police headquarters repeatedly urged a crowd of about 100 at a Tuesday evening forum to vote against the plan because the city’s controversial decision last year to build Rock Chalk Park showed the City Commission isn’t responsible with the city’s dollars. The commission agreed to spend $22.5 million on Rock Chalk Park and agreed to waive the bidding process for a portion of the project. Opponents argued the city could have used that money for a police headquarters facility instead.

“I feel sympathy for (Police) Chief Khatib that he has to go out begging for a regressive sales tax because the City Commission didn’t give him what he needed,” said Greg Robinson, a Lawrence attorney and former police officer who is part of the group opposing the police plan. “Instead, they gave him an eight-basketball court facility.

“This is not us against the police department. We have a commission that is out of control and wants to waste our tax dollars.”

Voters go to the polls on Nov. 4. Supporters of the sales tax plan said they understand some of the frustration the public has with how the city has decided to move forward with previous big-ticket items, but urged voters not to take out their frustration on the police department.

“You wouldn’t punish one child for the actions of another,” said Gary Rexroad, a Lawrence technology executive who is part of the group that supports the police plan.

Aaron Clopton, a Kansas University professor and member of the group that supports the plan, reminded the crowd that they’ll have a chance to vote for future city commissioners during the elections in April. He said a ‘no’ vote would force the police force to continue operating in facilities that are too small, out-dated and too spread across the community.

“This is not the perfect deal at the perfect time, but it is the right deal at the right time,” Clopton said.

Opponents of the plan said they are not against the Lawrence Police Department and believe some improvements in facilities likely are needed. But they said the city hasn’t done enough studies to determine whether the current plan would be effective at helping the police reduce crime rates and become more efficient. They also highlighted concerns about how the sales tax would hurt low-income residents more than high-income residents.

Supporters told the crowd that the price of the facility has grown as the city has waited to act on the facility, and it will continue to grow if voters delay the project further with a ‘no’ vote in November.

The forum was sponsored by the Voter Education Coalition and featured four panelists who were evenly split between the citizens groups that have formed to support and oppose the headquarters plan. Cable channel WOW6 also sponsored the forum, and it will show the program on its OnDemand Channel leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

Other points made during the forum included:

• Concerns over the proposed site of the facility, a 47-acre site near the Kansas Turnpike interchange on McDonald Drive. The city has agreed to pay $2.25 million for the vacant ground. The city needs about 15 acres for the police project and has said it will seek to sell some of the property and may donate other parts of it to the Boys and Girls Club for a new facility.

“We’re paying a lot of money for a lot of land we don’t need,” said Conor Brown, a Lawrence farmer who was a panelist for the opposition group.

Robinson said a site next to the Douglas County Jail would create greater efficiencies for the police department.

• Bringing the police department together in one facility would create greater efficiencies. Currently the patrol division is located in the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center in downtown Lawrence, while the detective and administrative divisions are located in an office building in west Lawrence. Evidence and equipment storage is spread out over four other locations across the city. Supporters said the inefficiencies that come from that arrangement soon will start affecting the service levels the department can provide.

“We have high standards for our police department,” Rexroad said. “But there is a disconnect between the expectations the community has and the resources we give them to do the job. We can’t have it both ways.”