While water rates are set to go up 8% next year, the city is sitting on a huge pile of cash in its utility fund. How much cash? So much that city officials aren’t entirely sure where it all came from. A review of financial documents by the Journal-World found that the city’s water/sewer fund is projected to end 2019 with nearly $42 million in reserves. To put that in perspective, for every $1 that the ...
In many progressive circles, the most hated tax in the land is a sales tax on food. Kansas is one of the few states that charges it, and opponents decry it as extremely regressive because it forces low-income people to pay tax on a product that is necessary for life. But now questions are being raised whether Lawrence city commissioners — perhaps without much thought — are placing an equally regressive ...
Beginning on this rainy Thursday, Lawrence residents looking for a tank of gas for their car — or maybe their ark — have a new national chain to choose from. The convenience store chain Casey’s officially opened its Lawrence location today. We’ve been reporting for months that Casey’s had decided to break into the Lawrence market. The store at 1703 W. Sixth St. — where the College Motel used to be ...
Whether your dream is to be a rock star or simply to imitate The Fonz, there soon will be a downtown shop designed to appeal to you. A lifelong Lawrence resident has struck a deal to open a Massachusetts Street guitar shop that also will have lots of other music memorabilia. “This shop has been a dream of mine since I came to terms that I wasn’t going to be a rock star,” said Casey Green. He plans to ...
At the halfway point of 2018, Lawrence Memorial Hospital had posted an operating profit of $3.3 million. By the midpoint of this year, LMH had an operating loss of $4.2 million. Yes, the hospital is a nonprofit business, but this type of performance isn’t what it expects. The hospital always seeks to have its revenues outpace its expenses so it can invest in new equipment and services — and ensure that it ...
With about one month on the job, City Manager Craig Owens already has made some observations about his new community. For one thing, we have plenty to say in public meetings. Owens has been to three City Commission meetings, and booked about 12 hours as part of them. The long meetings haven’t scared him away. “You care and you should,” said Owens, who previously served as city manager for Clayton, Mo., ...