photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The Lawrence City Commission listens to a presentation from city staff during its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.

Lawrence residents will once again be paying more for their monthly utility bills entering the new year.

Following a trend over the past several years, the Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday opted to raise the city’s stormwater and solid waste rates for 2024. As the Journal-World reported, city staff recommended a 7.5% increase per month in the stormwater rate and increases between 5% and 12.5% for different categories of solid waste collection. Both the stormwater and solid waste rate increases were approved unanimously.

Specifically, the stormwater rate increase boils down to an additional $0.56 per month on utility bills. The solid waste rate increase adds anywhere from $1.34 per month — for categories like single-dwelling and multidwelling residential customers — to $3.60 per month for the commercial cart category. Three categories are all increasing by 12.5%, but the actual dollar amount varies by container size.

The new rates will be effective Jan. 1, 2024, pending final approval at the City Commission’s Dec. 19 meeting, when both ordinances establishing the new rates will appear on the consent agenda. They will join water and sewer rates that jump by 10.25% in 2024, which weren’t discussed during Tuesday’s meeting because they were approved last year as part of a multiyear approach to those service charges.

“I’ll go ahead and say as well, I appreciate the hard work of the team here and the work you’re doing to go ahead and pace us out in terms of our rate increases as opposed to having huge jumps,” Lawrence Mayor Bart Littlejohn said. “I do appreciate that forward thinking and consideration of modest help from the fund balance.”

About a half dozen community members submitted written comments ahead of Tuesday’s meeting to voice objections to the proposed utility rate increases, but the process of actually passing the rates during the meeting was fairly straightforward. Commissioners didn’t hear any additional comments from people present at the meeting in person or watching online.

The rate increases are necessary, city staff said, in order to fund the city’s stormwater and solid waste projects in 2024. Municipal Services & Operations Deputy Director Mike Lawless told commissioners that the list, for stormwater, will include a reconstruction project on Maple Lane and stormwater improvements along Sixth Street from Iowa Street to Massachusetts Street. Solid waste projects will include transitioning the MSO Department’s vehicle fleet and developing a new solid waste facility on the new field operations campus for the City of Lawrence.

In other business, commissioners:

* Conducted a public hearing and unanimously approved a resolution to amend the 2023 budget.

The update increases the expenditure authority for six funds — Special Alcohol, Special Highway, Special Recreation, Kansas Fights Addiction, Federal Funds Exchange and Transit.

Alley Porter, the city’s interim finance director, said most of the proposed expenditure changes were related to spending that was slated to occur in 2022 but ended up rolling over into 2023.

* Decided on commissioners’ assignments for volunteer boards and commissions for the coming year.