Police and Parks and Recreation may soon converge. I know what you are thinking, but, no, I did not do that thing with a golf cart at Eagle Bend again. I’m talking about a plan to build a new police headquarters without a tax increase and how I soon expect the conversation to get much more intense about what type of cuts that may mean to the Parks and Recreation Department.

If you remember just prior to the City Commission election, commissioners briefly discussed the idea of a no-tax increase plan to build a new $26 million police headquarters. That plan had two main components: delay some road projects for a few years and fundamentally change how sales tax dollars are used to fund Parks and Recreation for the next 20 years or more.

Well, this week Parks and Recreation leaders met with the department’s advisory board, and a topic of discussion was how to address future maintenance needs if large amounts of the department’s current sales tax funding are diverted to the police project.

They didn’t come up with any easy answers. They did come up with a list though. Department leaders put together a list of about 40 projects that they believe are needed maintenance projects or needed enhancements to existing facilities that will be tough to fund.

The list is nothing new. There is a version of it every year. It also isn’t new that the department doesn’t have enough money to fund everything on the list. What’s new this year, though, is that some future sales tax funding that was going to become available to perhaps address some of those projects is in jeopardy of going to the the police project. The department’s maintenance budget currently is set at $500,000 a year in sales tax money. But city projections call for that amount to grow by 4 percent a year. If the no-tax police plan moves forward, the $500,000 would be frozen. The last I heard, City Hall hadn’t ordered inflation to freeze as well, so the $500,000 20 years from now will have a lot less buying power. How much less? Well, if you assume a 3 percent inflation rate, $500,000 today will have buying power of about $280,000 in 20 years. Even if you drop inflation to 2 percent, the buying power is about $335,000.

The other thing that has Parks and Recreation leaders worried is that they were expecting some new streams of funding to develop in future years that could be used for maintenance. Specifically, bond payments for the Community Health Building, Eagle Bend golf course and a few smaller park projects are scheduled to come off the books in 2016. Most of that money already has been spoken for to pay for the Rock Chalk Park project. But ‘most’ is the key word. There was a cushion of a few hundred thousand dollars in most years. Under the no-tax increase plan, that cushion goes to the police project.

So, expect advocates for parks and recreation to begin making some noise at City Hall in the near future.

“I hope the new commission has some understanding of how this works,” said Joe Caldwell, a member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. “You can’t just ignore the problem because these issues won’t get cheaper to fix, and they won’t just go away.”

But enough with all this talk. You all want to know about the list, I’m sure. Here we go: Top Ways to Draw Unwanted Attention on a Golf Cart: 1. Nitrous Oxide. 2 . . . Oh, that’s the not the list. You want to know about major parks and recreation projects. OK, here’s that one:

• $80,000 to replace playground equipment at Burcham Park. The equipment was removed to accommodate a project that worked on the nearby intake pipe for the adjacent Kaw Water Treatment Plant.

• $85,000 to add parking at the East Lawrence Recreation Center.

• $40,000 to restore the old stone wall at Clinton Park. The park and the wall date back to the founding of the city. “If we don’t do something with it, it will fall down,” said Mark Hecker, assistant director of Parks and Recreation.

• $45,000 to improve the pavement leading into the Youth Sports Complex in west Lawrence.

• $45,000 to improve the pavement leading into the Clinton Softball Complex in west Lawrence.

• $30,000 for various improvements on concrete trails around the city. Several of them have had settling issues that have created tripping hazards.

• $40,000 to replace the flooring in the Community Building. It has become so worn that it is slick, and larger issues also may need to be addressed. Moisture is coming through the basement floor in some places.

• $20,000 for large window shades for a portion of the Sports Pavilion Lawrence recreation center at Rock Chalk Park. During certain times, a bright glare is hampering game play on some courts.

• $50,000 to convert the playground surface at Holcom Park into an ADA compliant surface.

• $45,000 for exterior tuck pointing at the Community Building downtown.

• $20,000 to fix settled concrete at the Clinton Lake Softball Complex.

• $10,000 to paint a large fence at the Oak Hill Cemetery.

• $25,000 to remodel the women’s restroom at the Holcom Recreation Center.

• $25,000 for additional parking and fencing at the off-leash dog park at Clinton Lake.

• $35,000 to update the department’s master plan.

• $60,000 in pavement improvements to roads in city-owned cemeteries.

• $40,000 to address acoustical problems at Sports Pavilion Lawrence. Hecker said during tournament times, noise levels in the building make it difficult for employees at the front desk, for example, to take phone calls and answer questions. “It is a future concern, but it is a concern,” Hecker said.

• $20,000 to continue to install new curbless tree grates along Massachusetts Street.

• $18,000 to replace play features at the indoor aquatic center.

• $50,000 a year for at least the next five years to remove right-of-way trees that are expected to die as a result of Emerald Ash Borer disease. As we previously have reported, the department believes thousands of Ash trees across the community will die when the disease makes its way to Douglas County. It currently is in the Kansas City area.

• $20,000 to repair the concrete seating area at Hobbs Park. “We really ought to do something there if we’re going to allow the structure to stand, and it is a historic structure, so it will stand,” Hecker said.

• $20,000 for divider nets for the indoor turf field at Sports Pavilion Lawrence.

• $35,000 for better sealing windows at the Community Building downtown.

• $120,000 to install additional restrooms at the Youth Sports Complex.

• $20,000 for outdoor fitness equipment at South Park.

• $15,000 to replace burned out strands of lights and other aged decorations for the downtown holiday light display.

• $85,000 to make certain sidewalks at the Youth Sports Complex ADA accessible.

• $80,000 for parking lot repairs at the Holcom recreation center.

• $95,000 to replace the slide that has been removed at the Outdoor Aquatic Center. The center previously had two slides, but one had to be removed because it was worn out.

• $85,000 to replace worn playground equipment at South Park. In case you are ever in a position to win a trivia contest off of naming the busiest playground in the city, South Park is the answer, department leaders said. It gets daily use from St. John Catholic School, which is next door.

• $85,000 to make concrete repairs to the deck around the Outdoor Aquatic Center.

• $250,000 to replace a heating and air conditioning unit on the roof of the indoor Aquatic Center. Department officials have concern about how long the unit will continue to last. The units suck in a lot of chlorinated air from the pool, which leads to deterioration of the units.

• $350,000 to replace the lights at the Holcom baseball fields. The lights frequently burn out and are in need of maintenance, Hecker said.

• $250,000 to improve drainage and restroom problems at the shelter at Broken Arrow Park.

The largest item on the list is $900,000 to add a “crash area” onto the Indoor Aquatic Center. Again, no golf cart is involved here. A crash area is a spot where participants in swimming events can wait for their events to begin. During large swim meets, the area around the pool cannot safely accommodate all the people. Previously, the city has been able to use space at Free State High, which is connected to the aquatic center. But in recent years it has become more difficult to reserve Free State High space because the district often has other activities occurring at the same time.

One item that is not on the list, but could be, is the purchase of additional land for future parks. Historically, the department has tried to buy parkland about 20 years in advance of an area developing because that was the only way the city could afford to purchase the property. Such purchases haven’t happened in awhile, and likely wouldn’t under the current proposal. Hecker noted that currently the city doesn’t have any future parkland purchased west of the South Lawrence Trafficway, or south of 31st Streets.

The new City Commission hasn’t yet set a date to begin discussing police headquarters plans, but expect there to be some parks and recreation advocates around when they do.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Speaking of fixes, there will be one underway at the new Sports Pavilion Lawrence recreation center. The city is notifying users that the weight room at the recreation center will be closed from April 21 to April 27 while repairs are made to the floor. I don’t have details on what repairs are needed, but the release from the city noted that the work was being done under warranty. The track and cardio area will remain open during the repairs.