Compared to similar cities, Lawrence charges about $3 million less per year in user fees — charges that cover services ranging from trash pickup to parks and recreation classes. With evaluation of those fees forthcoming, residents are likely to see some of those prices increase.

The city has a 2012 policy that says it will evaluate fees every five years, but in the past such evaluations have not been a standard part of the city’s budget. City Manager Tom Markus told commissioners at their meeting Tuesday night that that approach must change.

“I think a lot of times elected officials and cities get themselves into building buildings, and they think because they built the building that that’s the end of it,” Markus said. “So you pay for the building, but to keep the building up you have to have some stream of revenue established, which we’ll be facing in years to come.”

The disparity between what Lawrence and other cities charge was part of an annual audit report received by city commissioners at their Tuesday meeting. The report measures totals for about a dozen financial indicators for the city for 2015, and compares them to the last 10 years of data, as well as benchmarks for other cities similar to Lawrence in size and other characteristics.

The city’s fee structures also affected other measures on the report. Due to its relatively lower fees, the city funds its government services more through property and sales taxes compared to other cities. In addition, the level at which taxes fund government services — free services such as police and fire departments — has been increasing over time, according to the report.

Markus recommended that assessment of fees be part of the annual budget process every year, and commissioners agreed that better evaluation was needed.

“Definitely costs go up every year, so it’s important that we keep an eye on our fees to make sure they are at least keeping pace,” Commissioner Leslie Soden later said.

Some fees, in fact, are already under review. Soden said that one example is the charge for developmental applications, such as those for economic incentives. Soden said one application can take up to six months of review.

“We need to raise those to better cover the cost of city staff working on those,” Soden said.

The approach is different for community services, such as summer bus passes for students, entry to aquatic centers and parks and recreation classes, Soden said. The Parks and Recreation Department, for example, looks to recover about half of the actual cost of services.

“We’re a government; we’re not a business,” Soden said. “We’re not a profit-driven center — that’s not what we’re about, so there are certain activities that the city voluntary subsidizes…It may not cover the actual cost of providing the service, so it’s this balancing act that we do.”