Delaying spending on some other projects to finance a new police headquarters building may or may not be an acceptable strategy, but city officials are missing the point if they think simply finding another way to pay for essentially the same project will address all, or even most, of the concerns that Lawrence taxpayers have about this plan.

On Tuesday, the city manager’s office presented a first draft of how a $26 million police headquarters could be financed without raising either sales or property taxes in the city. The list involved project delays that would have a long-term negative impact on the city’s streets and recreation facilities. The question that wasn’t answered — or apparently even discussed — at Tuesday’s meeting was whether a new, centralized police headquarters is the best use of $26 million of city money. The location for that headquarters also wasn’t discussed, although the city is focusing on properties it already owns.

During a recent discussion of plans to expand the Douglas County Jail, Sheriff Ken McGovern made an interesting observation. “I give the county commissioners a lot of kudos,” he said. “I was focused on building a jail, and they said ‘time out.’ They said we need to look at the whole process, and I agree.”

City commissioners need to call a similar “time out.”

Granted, there are differences in the jail and police headquarters projects, but, in both cases, the discussion started with a need for additional space. Perhaps after watching the community’s response to the police proposal, county officials decided to back up and work through a broader process to see exactly how much and what kind of space was needed to best meet the community’s needs. By contrast, the city apparently still is narrowly focused on the contention of the police chief and paid consultants that “we need space,” rather than looking at the broader picture of how much and what kind of space and at what location will contribute the most to the police department’s operations and service to Lawrence.

Even many residents who voted against the sales tax to fund a new police headquarters acknowledge that the police have facility needs that must be addressed. Maybe it will cost $26 million to address those needs, but it’s not apparent to the public what factors the city considered in arriving at that conclusion besides “we need space.” It will take longer, but the city might benefit from a process, not unlike what the county is pursuing, that looks at what other communities are doing and involves the public in the planning for a new police facility.