photo by: Rochelle Valverde/Journal-World

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured on Jan. 31, 2023.

Depending on what action city leaders take this week, Lawrence residents could be looking at yet another consecutive year of higher utility bills.

At Tuesday’s Lawrence City Commission meeting, stormwater and solid waste rates for 2024 are up for consideration — and they’re both in line for an increase. According to agenda materials for Tuesday’s meeting, city staff is recommending a 7.5% increase per month in the stormwater rate — or an additional $6.72 per year — and increases from anywhere between 5% and 12.5% for different categories of solid waste collection.

Specifically, the proposed average monthly service fees for those solid waste collection categories are as follows:

• Single-dwelling residential – 6.5% increase, or $1.34.

• Multidwelling residential – 6.5% increase, or $1.34.

• Roll-off – 12.5% increase, varies by container size.

• Commercial front and rear-load – 12.5% increase, varies by container size.

• Commercial cart – 12.5% increase, or $3.60.

• Downtown – 12.5% increase, varies by container size.

• School paper recycling – 5% increase, or $2.27.

“The proposed rate increases ultimately balance the inequity between residential and commercial charges for service,” the agenda item report for Tuesday’s meeting reads. “The model continues to reduce the inequity in rate classes through 2027 to bring the rate classes into an equitable alignment and addresses the need for a new solid waste facility on the (Municipal Services & Operations) campus.”

Stormwater drainage rates are calculated based on equivalent residential units, or ERUs. One ERU represents 2,366 square feet of impervious surface, which are surfaces such as pavement or roofs that don’t allow for water to pass through, thus causing it to run off into the city’s stormwater system. The blanket increase will add $451,090 to the city’s stormwater rate revenue.

Solid waste rates, meanwhile, are based on the rate model the city developed working with consulting firm Burns & McDonnell. According to the meeting agenda, the rate analysis considered factors such as investment in the design and construction of a new solid waste facility, investments in renewable energy vehicles and increased costs for fuel, equipment and supplies. All told, the increases will add $1,105,110 to the city’s solid waste rate revenue.

If they’re approved Tuesday, the new stormwater and solid waste rates will be effective Jan. 1, 2024, provided city leaders adopt the ordinances setting the rates on a final reading at the Dec. 19 City Commission meeting.

Water and sewer rates aren’t on the table for consideration this week because they were already adopted in a multiyear approach last year, which established water service charges from 2023 to 2025. Those rates increased by 8.75% this year and will step up even further in 2024 by 10.25%.

This isn’t anything new in Lawrence, though. Over the past five years, the City Commission has been consistent in approving increased utility rates across the board. The increased rates approved back in late 2019, for example, resulted in an average monthly city utility bill of about $103, based on a household using 4,000 gallons of water per month. Entering 2023, those continuously stair-stepping utility rates had resulted in a monthly utility bill of $122 for the same household type.

Simultaneously, one of the city’s volunteer boards is moving forward with recommending that city leaders direct staff to create options for utility payment plans for residents experiencing financial difficulties. As the Journal-World reported, the Affordable Housing Advisory Board was considering approving a letter of support to that end Monday, and the board ultimately approved the letter unanimously.

“The problem with not having a payment plan is that low-income families are constantly trying to make that calculation of ‘I have $1 (and) I owe $3 — where am I going to put it?'” Shannon Oury, the executive director of the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority and a member of the Affordable Housing Advisory Board, said during Monday’s meeting. “And when they run into any sort of speed bump, if that amount continues to accumulate, they have no way to pay that back. It then is this slippery slope where they’re going to HSC and saying ‘I need $2,000.’ That’s not something that HSC can do for very many people.”

In other business, commissioners will:

• Consider conducting a public hearing and adopting a resolution to amend the 2023 budget.

Tuesday’s agenda notes that there are six funds — Special Alcohol, Special Highway, Special Recreation, Kansas Fights Addiction, Federal Funds Exchange and Transit — being amended to add increased expenditure authority.

The Lawrence City Commission will convene at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.