In this photo from Monday, Oct. 27, 2014, members of a Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical crew load a cyclist into an ambulance.

During the first day of the Douglas County Commission’s 2017 budget discussions, representatives of the city of Eudora said “thank you,” while Dave Johnson of Bert Nash Community Mental Health Inc. pleaded “please.”

Commissioners met Tuesday during a work session focused on new spending requests from 15 outside agencies the county helps support. The proposed 2017 budget County Administrator Craig Weinaug presented the commission last week included funding for five partners making new spending requests.

The proposed 2017 budget would require $52.5 million in revenue from property taxes and would increase the county’s mill levy from 41.01 mills to 43.183 mills.

Although commissioners made no official decisions at Tuesday’s work session on the “supplemental” requests, they did signal approval of the most expensive item on the list.

That request originated from the city of Eudora and would provide ambulance service for that community. Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical would receive the $335,148 needed for an ambulance and equipment and the $937,300 for annual operational costs.

In addressing the commission on the request, Eudora interim City Manager Barack Matite noted the city had made the request for the previous two years. It was a need that was only increasing for eastern Douglas County and the growing community, he said.

Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin and City Commissioner Ruth Hughs said the city had done its part by making space available for the ambulance and crew in the city’s 3-year-old Public Safety Building.

That commitment from the city’s helped pave the way for the expansion of ambulance service to the community, Douglas County Commission Chairman Jim Flory said.

“We’ve struggled with this the last three years at budget time,” he said. “In my mind, it’s never been a question of ‘if’ but of ‘when.’ I think the indications are the ‘when’ is now. I think we’ll be able to get over the hoop, but it is a big item.”

As he left the work session, Reazin said he was thankful for commission’s willingness to include the request in the budget.

“I’m encouraged by their comments,” he said. “This is something that is badly needed in Eudora and eastern Douglas County.”

If the Eudora mayor was thankful, Bert Nash Executive Director Dave Johnson remained hopeful despite his agency’s supplemental request not being among those included in the proposed 2017 budget.

The request is for an additional $158,000 to offset the $181,429 in Medicaid revenue lost when Gov. Sam Brownback ordered cuts in June to address the state’s budget shortfall. Bert Nash also took a funding hit with the state’s elimination of a “health home” pilot program, which was designed to coordinate care for people with both mental health illnesses and chronic medical conditions, he said.

After noting Bert Nash had already cut to bone, Johnson ended his presentation to commissioners with the words “please, please.” Without additional funding, Bert Nash would have to consider eliminating programs, reducing services or increasing fees charged to clients, he said. Some hard decisions have already been made, he said, citing the recent closing of Bert Nash’s office in Eudora.

Stepping to the podium after Johnson, Marvin Hunt, executive director of the Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center, borrowed his “please, please” words when making his appeal. The tech center, which opened in August 2015, is asking for supplemental funding of $45,105 for operations and maintenance and $50,000 for repairs and maintenance. Hunt said that funding plus the $150,000 the city of Lawrence was providing in 2017 would make the center sustainable.

Hunt added, however, that the expectation was for the tech center to thrive and not just sustain operations.

With that in mind, a group is working on a plan for Peaslee, said Hugh Carter, vice president of external affairs for the Lawrence chamber of commerce. The plan involved a three-step approach that would start with fundraising, move to needed renovations and repairs at the center and conclude with identifying a revenue stream to support Peaslee, he told commissioners.

Flory said the center’s workforce technical training was a vital component of the county’s economic development effort. Therefore, it might be possible to use some of the money the county earmarks for economic development initiatives to fund the Peaslee request, he said. That would allow commissioners to fund the request without adding to the overall mill levy, he said.

“There’s probably a number of those kinds of things we will be looking at,” Flory said after the meeting.

Commissioners will meet at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday for a work session on new spending requests from county departments. They will start making 2017 budget decisions at a meeting scheduled for 8:15 a.m. July 19.