Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured on May 3, 2016.

The city is on pace to spend more than $4 million over budget this year.

City officials say there isn’t an overarching reason for the projected overages, but they did note that some factors are scheduling changes for street projects, transfers to the city’s reserve fund and overtime pay.

“I wouldn’t say it’s one thing,” said Director of Finance Bryan Kidney. “I think it’s more the big items.”

When asked why the city would go over budget as opposed to making cuts, City Manager Tom Markus said the city has reduced personnel in different parts of the budget.

“It would have actually been even more significant had we not done those things,” Markus said. “… We have cut; we’re still pushed to the edge.”

As part of this year’s budget, the city cut about eight positions, and Markus is proposing that another 11 positions — all but one of which have already been vacated — be officially eliminated as part of the 2018 budget.

A chart of the projected expenditures by department is included as part of the City Commission’s meeting agenda for Tuesday, but it doesn’t detail each projected overage. Kidney, though, provided several examples of projected increases in spending, some of which he said are partially offset by projected reductions.

Examples of projected spending increases that weren’t originally included in the 2017 budget include $1.9 million for phase one of the 19th Street project, $565,000 of transfers from the General Operating Fund to reserve funds, $225,000 in overtime pay for fire and medical staff, $150,000 in energy-efficient building improvements, and $838,000 of held payments to The Oread hotel that were disbursed as a part of a legal settlement.

Kidney said the 19th Street project was moved up from 2018 to 2017 in order to coordinate with the University of Kansas. Assistant City Manager Casey Toomay explained that the amount of money the city transfers to its reserves increases as revenues increase and count as expenditures as they leave the general operating fund and as purchases when they enter the reserve funds.

Markus noted that the overtime pay for fire and medical staff was the result of maintaining staffing requirements when employees called in sick or took family leave. He said he thinks there are some areas where the city could operate more efficiently, including staffing.

“Staff is a dominant part of our budget, so it has to include an evaluation of staffing and deployment of personnel,” Markus said.

The projected overages for this year come at the same time that city staff are recommending an increase in the city’s property tax rate as part of the 2018 budget. The city’s proposed 1.25 mill increase would amount to about a $29 annual increase on a $200,000 home.

Markus said that he thinks the 2018 budget is pretty much balanced apart from the capital improvement projects, which he said are pushing the proposed tax rate higher. He said when it comes to budgeting, the city has started to look at things in a broader way and to set spending based on the priorities in the commission’s strategic plan.

“I think going forward we’re going to continue to refine those strategies and focus on how we spend our money,” Markus said. “At some point, based on concerns about increasing tax rates or utility rates, the public’s going to push back on some of those things, and I think that means we’re going to have to continually look at what our priorities are.”

As part of their meeting Tuesday, commissioners will establish the maximum budget authority and mill levy for the 2018 budget and authorize the publication of the 2018 budget summary. The City Commission will convene at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.