Wipe off whatever that was that splattered on you from the state’s budget process, and get ready to dive into the city of Lawrence’s budget fun. City commissioners are starting to get a whole lot of numbers about their 2016 budget, and it is easy to see how some of them are going to spark some debate.

Some of that debate may start within social service agencies across the city. The city’s Social Service Funding Advisory Board is recommending nearly a 7.5 percent cut in general fund dollars for the approximately 20 agencies that it reviews.

That recommended cut is coming at the same time that revenues flowing into the city’s general fund are doing quite well. The city’s general fund is the city’s big fund that receives sales taxes, property taxes, franchise fees, fines and other sorts of revenue. The general fund pays for most city functions, except for water, sewer, trash, debt payments and a few other speciality items.

News numbers from the city’s finance department are projecting good growth for that fund. Without any sort of tax increase, the city’s general fund is expected to grow by about $3.55 million in 2016. The city had budgeted to collect $74.95 million in its general fund in 2015, and now expects that in 2016 it will collect $78.51 million. That’s a growth rate of about 4.6 percent. Most of the new money is coming from shoppers spending more, and thus the city collecting more in sales taxes as a result. Some of the growth also is coming from an increase in property values and new construction that is boosting the city’s property tax base. (Although, to be clear, some of that additional $3.55 million is automatically transferred out of the city’s general fund and into a public transit fund because of the way the city’s sales tax system is structured.)

The even better news on the revenue front is that the growth is occurring now. Remember, I said the city had budgeted to collect $74.95 million in 2015. But the new report projects the city actually will collect $76.79 million in 2015. That’s about $1.8 million that is now projected to enter the city’s coffers, but was not budgeted to be spent by the city this year. That should help the city as it prepares its 2016 budget this summer.

Thus far, though, it has not helped the approximately 20 social service agencies that receive general fund dollars from the city. The Social Service Funding Advisory Board is recommending that the city provide $513,236 in general fund dollars to agencies that range from the Ballard Center to the Willow Domestic Violence Center. That proposed amount is down from the approximately $554,000 in general fund dollars the City Commission approved last year.

Why the cut is being proposed is kind of convoluted. During the 2015 budget process, the Social Service Funding Advisory Board recommended $513,236 in funding. But then the City Commission added $41,000 in funding to the recommendations to provide assistance for Van Go Mobile Arts and Willow Domestic Violence Center. But commissioners at the time said it was one-time funding that would be taken out of the city’s version of a savings account.

So, this year, the Social Service Funding Advisory Board was instructed by city staff that its funding recommendations needed to be no more than $513,236 in total. The one-time money was treated as one-time money. But the advisory board chose to recommend funding for both Willow and Warm Hearts — the recipients of the one-time money. The result is that nearly everybody else’s funding allocations declined. Of the 19 agencies reviewed by the advisory boards, 18 of them are being recommended for a cut in funding.

The approximately $500,000 in social service funding isn’t very significant in the grand scheme of the city’s approximately $75 million general fund. We’ll talk about much larger issues during this budget season. But social service agencies repeatedly say the money they receive from the city is important. Often times it is used to help match private grant dollars and such. The social service funding issue always receives outsized attention in the city’s budget process, in part, because of the work the groups do and also because the agencies have boards that often are full of politically active members who know how to make their cases at City Hall.

It will be interesting to see how this new commission approaches social service funding. There certainly have been indications that this commission views the City Commission as having a role in providing social services. Think of the discussion by City Commission candidates about how mental health care should be funded, and about providing assistance for people in need of transitional housing.

Members of the Social Service Funding Advisory Board struggled with finding funding in their recommendations for some agencies that address those topics fairly directly. For example, the Bert Nash Homeless Outreach program, which deals with mental health issues extensively, is scheduled to take a cut of nearly $15,000 in funding from the city’s general fund. The Salvation Army requested $15,000 in city funding for a program that helps provide transitional housing to single mothers in need. Under the current recommendations, it is not scheduled to receive any funding.

Don’t get me wrong, the Social Service Funding Advisory Board has a tough job. I’m not trying to criticize its recommendations. It clearly has some parameters placed on how much total funding it can recommend. That may be where the largest discussions will be had: Does the new commission think those parameters are still correct? And ultimately, these are just recommendations. City commissioners can change them. We’ll see if they do.

It also is worth noting that this group of approximately 20 agencies that are part of this recommendation make up just one set of what is a complicated system of how the city provides funding to “outside agencies.”

The city also has received a recommendation from the advisory board to provide $316,617 of funding to eight social service agencies that deal with issues of helping those with substance abuse problems. That money comes from the city’s Special Alcohol fund, which is funded through collection of the state drink tax charged on liquor purchases at bars and restaurants. That total amount is unchanged from 2015 totals, but five of the agencies are recommended to receive less money than in 2015 because the group is recommending the money be split between eight agencies instead of the seven that received funding in 2015.

The city also has some social service agencies that don’t go through the standard review process run by the Social Service Funding Advisory Board. The Lawrence Community Shelter is probably the primary example of such an agency. It is listed as a city vendor — along with groups such as the Humane Society and the Arts Center. Vendors don’t go through an advisory board review, but rather make their case directly to city commissioners. The funding amounts for those categories can be significant. The homeless shelter is seeking a $50,000 increase for operations of the shelter, and the Arts Center is seeking $59,000 in additional funding in 2016.

In the past, tight budget conditions have been the No. 1 reason that city commissioners have given for the basically zero sum increases in social service funding for many of these agencies. The city certainly has some budget issues staring at it in 2016. The biggest is the city hasn’t yet figured out how to pay for a new multimillion dollar police headquarters building. But as the new financial report shows, the city is not facing a crisis when it comes to city revenues. Most revenue sources have been performing nicely.

For those of you who want the details, here’s a look at the agency funding recommendations, and how they compare to 2015 totals.

General Fund dollars

• Ballard Center: $13,210, down from $14,500

• Bert Nash Homeless Outreach: $153,208, down from $168,114

• Big Brothers Big Sisters: $17,580, down from $19,300

• Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence: $119,328, down from $130,922

• Communities in School: $2,280, down from $2,500

• Douglas County CASA: $22,780, down from $25,000

• Douglas County Dental Clinic: $13,670, down from $15,000

• GaDuGi SafeCenter: $8,200, unfunded in 2015

• Health Care Access: $24,410, down from $26,800

• Housing & Credit Counseling: $15,580, down from $17,100

• Lawrence Community Food Alliance: $6,830, down from $7,500

• Lawrence Farmers Market: $9,110, down from $10,000

• The Shelter Inc.: $29,150, down from $32,000

• Success by 6 Coalition: $25,050, down from $27,500

• TFI Family Services: $6,380, down from $7,000

• Van Go Mobile Arts: $31,890, down from $35,000

• Warm Hearts of Douglas County: $5,470, down from $6,000

• Willow Domestic Violence Center: $5,470, down from $6,000

• Willow Bus Pass program: $3,640, down from $4,000.

Special Alcohol Funded Programs (funded from drink tax revenues)

• Big Brothers Big Sisters: $8,710, not funded in 2015

• Boys & Girls Club: $95,710, down from $97,000

• DCCCA: $93,534, down from $93,696

• First Step House: $37,180, down from $37,421

• Hearthstone: $7,500, unchanged from 2015

• Heartland Community Health Center: $30,000, unchanged from 2015

• Van Go Mobile Arts: $26,273, down from $32,000

• Willow Domestic Violence Center: $17,710, down from $19,000

In other news and notes from around town:

• Perhaps all these numbers once again give you the urge to take a pile of spreadsheets and blow them up with a really large firecracker. Or maybe with 20 or 30 large firecrackers. Or perhaps a quarter-stick of dynamite.

I’m not sure any of that will be allowed, but Lawrence’s official Independence Day celebration is set to return to downtown Lawrence for another year.

Once again the Lawrence Originals — a group of Lawrence-owned restaurants — will sponsor the event. It is set for Watson Park near the corner of Seventh and Kentucky Streets. It will include music, food, alcohol sales, children’s activities and other such events. The group has filed the necessary paperwork with City Hall, and commissioners are scheduled to approve the permit at their Tuesday evening meeting. In the past, the local Jaycees club has provided a fireworks show from the levee of the Kansas River. That show isn’t part of this permit request, but I’m assuming all systems are go for the fireworks show. I’ll let you know when I get more details about that.

• For years and years I have gotten questions about what is going to go into the large, vacant retail building that is in front of Best Buy and Home Depot at 31st and Iowa. Well, I’ve got a new answer for you: the Douglas County Treasurer.

The treasurer’s office has signed a deal to locate in space that is next to the Firehouse Subs restaurant that opened in the building within the last year. (I know a sub sandwich always makes me feel better after I pay my taxes.) The treasurer’s office has a satellite office in the shopping center at the northwest corner of 27th and Iowa Street. It is kind of near the Hancock Fabrics store. (Fabric shopping always makes my wife feel better.) That satellite location will close at 5 p.m. on June 24. The treasurer’s office has received a building permit to begin work on the new 31st Street location. Work is expected to take four to seven weeks to complete. In the meantime, residents can still take care of their tax bills, car tags and other such needs at the treasurer’s office at the Douglas County Courthouse at 11th and Massachusetts streets or the satellite office at 3000 W. Sixth St. inside the Dillons Store.