As Douglas County leaders begin fine-tuning their 2025 budget, they're asking whether some things can be funded with a mental health sales tax instead of property taxes — and whether it's really the county's job to help its partner agencies keep up with rising costs.
The quarter-cent behavioral health sales tax was a theme county commissioners discussed on Friday, the first day of their budget deliberations, ...
When Douglas County held its budget talks last year, Sheriff Jay Armbrister had a staffing crisis on his hands: His office was lagging far behind nearby departments in pay for deputies and corrections officers, and many were leaving for jobs elsewhere.
This year, he says, the sheriff's office is still in need of more staff, but of a different kind — the clerical and technology personnel who work behind the ...
The Douglas County Commission approved security camera upgrades for the county jail, the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and other county facilities at an abbreviated meeting on Wednesday.
Commissioners didn’t have any business to take care of on their regular agenda at Wednesday’s meeting, leaving a nine-item consent agenda to pass. The consent agenda included a $299,100 contract with Tech Electronics ...
A host of social service agencies — and, for the first time, a local church — are asking Douglas County for funding in 2025 to build new transitional housing and strengthen the support systems for people struggling with homelessness and substance abuse.
The Douglas County Commission on Tuesday, the second day of its 2025 budget hearings, heard funding requests from several social service agencies whose ...
The Douglas County Commission’s budget hearings opened with many questions regarding a proposed decrease in firefighter staff and the departments’ station expansion project.
County commissioners, at their first hearing for the 2025 budget on Monday morning, asked Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical representatives to discuss the recommendations of reducing staff on firetrucks and other cuts.
As the ...
After a public commenter addressed concerns with the Lawrence school board renewing the annual subscription for a security system monitoring students’ computer use, the board held further discussions before ultimately renewing their deal with the provider, Gaggle, on a 6-1 vote.
During Monday's school board meeting, board member Carole Cadue-Blackwood requested to further discuss the annual subscription to ...
