Lawrence school board will be asking for more tax dollars from residents, but the increase likely won’t be as high as recent years.

In early budget talks Monday, the school board considered increasing the local levy by between 3.086 mills and 3.586 mills.

That’s a smaller increase than the last two years, which each had increases of more than 5 mills.

According to early projections, the owner of a $150,000 home would see an annual increase of about $50, for total annual taxes to the district of about $1,000.

The current plans are based on a 3 percent increase in assessed valuation.

Board President Sue Morgan said the local option budget increases as the district’s state funding increases because the district qualifies for certain funds if it maintains its local option budget at 30 percent of its state general fund budget.

“You forfeit your right to some other funding if you drop the (local option budget) below the specified : thresholds that you have to have in order to qualify,” she said.

The district estimates that base state aid per student will increase from $4,316 for 2006-07 to $4,374 in 2007-08.

Discussions are early. The district plans to have a budget overview session July 23 and a budget hearing Aug. 13 before certifying the 2007-08 budget on Aug. 25.

Meanwhile, negotiations with the Lawrence Education Association continue today. And the district estimates it has about $1.64 million in unrestricted general fund money that can be spent on items such as salary increases.