The Douglas County commission meets in the historic courtroom on the second floor of the old county courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

The city of Lawrence and Douglas County need to have a better understanding of who is going to pay for what.

As part of their budget hearings on Tuesday, county commissioners said it was time for city and county leaders to hold a joint meeting on how the two governments will pay for joint projects or services.

County Commissioner Nancy Thellman suggested the joint meeting during discussion of a $200,000 payment included in the proposed 2018 budget to help the Peaslee Technical Education Center with an impending $1.5 million mortgage balloon payment. The two governing bodies needed to discuss the shared spending collaborations, including Peaslee, and how they should be funded in the future, she said.

Commission Chairman Mike Gaughan agreed there was a need for a joint meeting in light of concerns Lawrence City Manager Tom Markus has expressed about the double taxation of Lawrence residents from projects and programs the county and city jointly fund. He said he would seek to schedule a meeting after the two bodies complete their 2018 budget discussions.

County Administrator Craig Weinaug said the proposed $200,000 loan payment was an arbitrary amount he chose to help with $1.57 million balloon payment owed on the Peaslee building. That money is in addition to the $215,000 the 2018 budget provides for ongoing Peaslee operations.

Weinaug told commissioners he arrived at the $200,000 debt figure after learning the 2018 city budget would not include money for the Peaslee debt.

Hugh Carter, vice president of external affairs for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said he was in discussions with 16 local financial institutions interested in collectively loaning Peaslee the money needed to make the balloon payment. The loan would be in the form of a two-year, interest-only note, he said. The interested lenders would welcome the $200,000 county commitment to pay down the principal on existing debt, he said.

The goal was to use the respite the two-year note provided to develop a dedicated revenue stream that would address Peaslee’s operating costs and debt obligation, Carter said. He suggested revenue equaling a countywide 0.3 mill line item would be adequate to cover Peaslee’s annual operating costs or 0.4 mills would be enough for operating costs and repayment of a regular mortgage.

Weinaug said should the county further pay down the principal with another $200,000 in 2019, the debt would be more manageable when the two-year note was due. Weinaug and Commissioner Mike Gaughan agreed it was unrealistic to believe Peaslee would ever be self-sufficient. Educational institutions from elementary schools through universities traditionally required public subsidies, they said.

Commissioners also got a quick review of the county’s 2018 capital improvement plan of public works and facilities projects. The budget commissioners will approve sets CIP amounts but commissioners can tweak projects during more thorough discussions later this year.

The big CIP road project scheduled for 2018 is an $850,000 improvement to County Route 458 from East 1800 Road to East 2000 Road. Douglas County Public Works director Keith Browning said the project would make use of federal high-risk rural road funding to replace narrow culverts, flatten slopes along the roadside and remove some trees.

Commissioners will continue 2018 budget hearings at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when they will be making decisions on the proposed budget. Commissioners agreed with Weinaug’s assessment that the budget would not exceed the state’s tax lid limit, so a final decision to publish the proposed 2018 budget would not have to be made this week.