For the past several years, the city of Lawrence’s vehicle fleet has kind of served as a stimulus program for mechanics. In 2016, auto dealers are likely to get a boost.

City budget-makers are recommending Lawrence spend at least an extra $1.25 million on vehicle and equipment purchases in 2016, in part, because a new report found the city has a significant number of vehicles where the city has actually spent more on repairs than it cost to buy the vehicles originally.

Assistant City Manager Casey Toomay said past city budgets have recommended several vehicle and equipment purchases, but they’ve frequently been deferred as commissioners work to limit tax increases.

“It is nearly always possible to drive your vehicle for another year,” Toomay said. “The challenge has been that when we have limited resources, we often have deferred vehicle purchases, and now it is catching up with us.”

The City Manager’s office is recommending the City Commission dip into reserve funds by about $1 million to purchase much of the equipment in order to avoid a tax increase in the 2016 budget. But commissioners already have been warned that probably won’t work in upcoming years.

“This may not be a sustainable plan in the future, but it would allow us to address some critical needs in 2016,” said Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard.

A report by the city’s new fleet manager found significant issues with the nearly 750 vehicles and pieces of equipment that are used by city employees. Among the findings:

• The city has multiple departments that are spending more on maintenance and repair costs for vehicles than it actually cost to originally buy the vehicles. The city’s engineering division has 36 percent of its vehicles that fall into that category. Other city divisions that have more than 20 percent of their vehicles in that category include: streets, traffic engineering, levee maintenance, waste reduction, wastewater, and water distributions.

The report found the situation was the result of “unrealistic replacement cycles or lack of funding for scheduled replacement cycles.”

• The average age of the city’s fleet in 2013 was 9.5 years, up from 6 years in 2003 and 7.1 years in 2008.

• The city spent $1.9 million in 2013 to repair equipment. That’s up from $1.2 million in 2003 and $1.7 million in 2008. Toomay noted that doesn’t include costs the city incurs while equipment is down. “Staff definitely has to modify its work when equipment is down,” Toomay said. “It impacts service levels.”

• The city needs to better enforce a no-idling policy that currently is not being observed by many departments, and city employees need better instruction on how to treat city-owned vehicles. “As vehicles become older, the human nature of employees tends to lead to less care of the vehicles,” the report found.

Toomay said the city manager’s office this fall plans to devote significant resources to creating a multiyear strategy for the city’s vehicle fleet.

Commissioners are expected to receive a recommended 2016 budget from Stoddard next week. Commissioners then are expected to work on tweaking the recommended budget during much of July. The final budget must be approved by early August.