photo by: Nikki Wentling

A dozen community members participated Wednesday, May 11, 2016 in a public input session on Lawrence's 2017 budget. Residents discussed some of their priorities, which included police, mental health services, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and affordable housing, among other things.

As city leaders start the process of determining Lawrence’s 2017 budget, “belt-tightening” will be part of their discussions, City Manager Tom Markus said.

At a public meeting Thursday night, community members were asked to place stickers next to 21 different city services, indicating whether they wanted each service to receive lessened, equal or more funding than it has in the past. Markus said maybe the choice should’ve been which services residents wanted to keep at the same funding level and which should be cut the most and least.

“I don’t think there’s any way around it,” he said.

Referencing the property tax lid that goes into effect in 2017, Markus said: “The state is restricting revenues, and in the same time period it’s also created unfunded mandates.”

One of those mandates mentioned in the discussion Wednesday was the new state requirement to outfit public buildings with heightened security measures — costing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars per building — or allow concealed weapons in them.

At the same time, the city’s finance director has told city commissioners the main fund for public services will continue decreasing over the next five years — and operating at a deficit — if the city continues making and spending money at the same rate it is now.

“We’re going to look at expenses real hard to figure out what the priorities are,” Markus said. “That’s why these experiments and engagements are important, to know what you think the priorities are.”

He noted his recent statement that sidewalk repairs should be made by property owners, as current city and state law mandates.

“When somebody tells me you want better sidewalks, that’s when I look at the law and see what it says about who is responsible for sidewalks,” Markus said. Gesturing toward the wall listing the city services, he added, “Because I know I’m not going to take from all of these other things and start to move that into sidewalks.”

A dozen residents participated in the input session, which was also attended by all of the city commissioners, the city finance director and other staff.

On large pieces of paper taped to the wall at the front of the room, most indicated they wanted more funding for: the Lawrence Public Library, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, mental health services, arts and culture, social services, public transportation, street maintenance, parks and recreation, affordable housing and police.

Lawrence resident KT Walsh said her vote to prioritize mental health services was because of the push for a new crisis intervention center in Douglas County.

Melinda Henderson, another participant, asked to prioritize transportation funding in order to improve routes and establish a new central transfer hub.

One participant asked for more money for better code enforcement, and another wanted more library funds, saying, “It’s the one thing in the community that unites us all.”

Markus, who has been on the job just shy of two months, said he would “drill down” on different parts of city operations to determine whether they’re operating as efficiently as possible.

Part of that will be analyzing the police department and how large of a force is needed in Lawrence. In March, the City Commission approved hiring 14 officers above the maximum force level, at the request of Chief Tarik Khatib. Commissioners at the time asked Markus to create a plan for how to make future police department hiring decisions.

Markus said he was working with the department on a method for determining the appropriate number of officers.

“I don’t think that they’re really metric-driven; we’re having that conversation,” Markus said. “We’re trying to figure out what methodology to use so we have a logical argument about what the right staffing level should be. There isn’t a nexus, a connection that needs to be there that justifies that.”

In response, Walsh said: “You’re a breath of fresh air to the community on that issue.”

Another input session is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Holcom Recreation Center, 2700 W. 27th St.

The next City Commission work session on the 2017 budget is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.

Markus’ recommended budget will be available July 7, and the City Commission will pass a 2017 budget in August.