photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawrence city commissioners discussed an update from city staff about the 2026 budget, which includes cuts to positions and services to balance an estimated $6.6 million hole.

Lawrence city commissioners largely agreed on Tuesday with the latest update of the city’s 2026 budget, which included proposed staffing reductions across departments, adding back money to the city’s reserve fund and keeping market rate pay increases for employees as the city needs to cut $6.6 million.

On Tuesday night, staff presented commissioners with a summary of what the reductions would look like across the city for next year’s budget. The initial discussions included a reduction of about two dozen full-time positions, adding back $2 million to the city’s reserve fund and keeping pay increases for employees; however, commissioners are split about whether the city should rule out an increase in tax rates.

Eight departments would face cuts as part of the preliminary budget prepared by the city manager’s office, according to a presentation from Alley Porter, a budget manager with the city finance department. The range of cuts faced by those departments includes approximately:

• $73,000 to $80,000 from the City Attorney’s Office, or roughly a 4% cut.

• $80,000 to $180,000 from the Economic Development Department, or roughly a 6% to 13% cut.

• $160,000 to $550,000 from the Homeless Solutions Division, or roughly a 6% to 20% cut.

• $1.5 million to $1.9 million from Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical, or roughly a 4% to 6% cut.

• $730,000 to $1.1 million from Municipal Services and Operations, or roughly a 4% to 6% cut.

• $1.2 million to $1.3 million from the Lawrence Police Department, or roughly a 4% cut.

• $130,000 to $365,000 from Planning and Development Services, or roughly a 2% to 6% cut.

• $1.7 million from the Parks, Recreation and Culture Department, or roughly a 9.5% cut.

Porter said it was painful to stand in front of the commission and talk about cuts and reduced service levels, but that it was important to be frank about the potential changes.

“It is our professional responsibility to confront this reality and be honest with the public about what these reductions look like,” Porter said.

Porter said the initial estimated cuts were created with feedback that commissioners gave on the initial proposal in January, as the Journal-World reported. During that meeting, commissioners directed staff to set aside certain portions of the budget — such as police patrols and investigations — as untouchable for cuts.

The city presentation also included initial budget proposals that outline how the departments could reduce their services and what those cuts could look like. Porter explained to commissioners that these were developed based on feedback from the public, commissioners and members of special budget committees that were formed last year.

One way feedback was gathered was through an interactive online tool called “A Balancing Act.” The city opened up the Balancing Act tool to the community at large from Feb. 1 to March 7 and received a total of 637 submissions. Porter noted that was a larger number than last year’s submissions, which totaled about 500.

As an example of what the cuts would look like, the Municipal Services and Operations proposed budget outlines plans for eliminating one street crew, or four full-time positions. It also proposes an administrative reorganization that could affect two full-time positions; the proposal did not say how those positions would be affected.

The city noted several positions identified for cuts “are currently or anticipated to be vacant.” When asked by Commissioner Brad Finkeldei about the impact of cuts on the department, MSO director Melissa Sieben said those positions on that street crew were not actually filled, so it would just drop vacancies from the budget.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical has two initial proposals: one that would require additional revenue from the county and another that would reduce fire and medical services — and potentially cut an additional 18 employees — if there were no additional county funding.

Commissioners asked the city to prioritize the first proposal from LDCFM, which would need to have support from Douglas County. The plan would require the funding split between the two governments to change; currently it’s 64% city-funded and 36% county-funded, and those would have to change to 58% and 42%, respectively. A couple of LDCFM firefighters spoke during the meeting’s public comment period against the proposed cuts.

Luis Ruiz, the director of the Parks, Recreation and Culture department, said the cuts to his department would include a reduction of three full-time positions for staff at rec centers and other facilities and 20 part-time maintenance positions, which would reduce the mowing frequency of some of its parks and trails. Ruiz said the loss in part-time maintenance would be equivalent to about four-full time positions, and that decrease in maintenance would be “visible to the community.”

In total, the initial budget — with the first proposal from LDCFM — would include about 23 full-time positions being cut. Porter said the city estimates that each full-time position or equivalent costs the city an average of $115,000.

To help create more vacancies and limit the potential for layoffs, Porter and City Manager Craig Owens told the commission that the city has adopted a new hiring policy and has or is planning to offer early retirement incentives. Although staff taking early retirement plans could lead to some savings in the wages, Owens said the goal of the early retirement incentive was to create vacancies so the city has a “smaller org chart.”

One important question that commissioners were split on was the potential for raising the property tax levy. Commissioners Lisa Larsen and Mike Dever both stated they would be against raising any taxes at all. Commissioner Bart Littlejohn said he had “some tolerance” for raising taxes and wanted to keep options open. Commissioner Amber Sellers said she also couldn’t say no to a promise of not raising taxes.

Other questions had unanimous answers. In the face of seeing the reality of the cuts, Porter asked if commissioners wanted to change the $2 million set aside to rebuild the city’s fund balance in its general operating fund. Without adding that amount to the fund, the account is on pace to be depleted by 2029. Porter said restoring that funding will help set the city up in the future so it can “stop having these conversations” about cuts and hope to have more “growth conversations” in the future.

Additionally, all commissioners said they wanted to keep market-rate compensation plans for employees. Employee compensation is a major part of the city’s budget in any year, and it is an item that has been growing in recent budgets. The city’s 2025 budget calls for $69.6 million in 2025, up from $67.1 million in 2024 and $62.4 million in 2023.

The next steps for the budget after Tuesday’s meeting would be on June 17, when the city presents the proposed Capital Improvement Plan, and on July 8, when the city manager presents the 2026 recommended budget proposal.

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In other business, commissioners set a public hearing about a request from the University of Kansas to provide tax incentives for its Gateway Project.

As the Journal-World reported, the City Commission voted 4-1 in December to approve the application for incentives the university is requesting to help fund the project. KU is seeking $86.7 million worth of breaks — $60 million worth of state STAR bonds and two special tax areas that would generate a combined $26.7 million.

The entire $300 million project would add an upscale hotel, a mix of retail and restaurant space, more than 400 new student apartments and a 20,000-square-foot plaza in the area around 11th and Mississippi streets, as the Journal-World reported. It is the second phase of proposed re-development in that area that includes the $448 million reconstruction of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. That project, expected to be complete in August, includes a convention and conference center in the north bowl of the stadium.

The commission approved May 6 as the public hearing date for establishing the proposed STAR Bond Project District and TIF Project District.