photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Lawrence City Hall is pictured on Oct. 11, 2024.

The City of Lawrence has begun offering eligible employees a voluntary early retirement package in an effort to address the city’s budget shortfall.

The city sent out information about the early retirement program to employees starting April 16.

At a City Commission meeting in April, city staff presented a budget that addressed a projected $6.6 million shortfall; that budget included cuts to 23 full-time positions. City Manager Craig Owens and Alley Porter, a budget manager with the city finance department, had said in that meeting that the city adopted an internal hiring policy and was planning to offer early retirement incentives in an attempt to create more vacancies and limit the potential for layoffs, as the Journal-World reported.

Maureen Brady, a spokesperson with the city, told the Journal-World in an email that the early retirement program was just one program introduced to make the city “a more sustainable organization and to ensure we can address our staffing needs of the future.” Brady said the city did not have a goal number of employees to take the voluntary package, but she noted that maintaining the budget through attrition was a tool to ensure the “budget (is) where it needs to be next year.”

According to the document, the city reserves the right to accept or deny participation in the retirement program to eligible employees “based upon the operational needs of and budget impact on the City,” adding that acceptance of eligible employees’ applications would be granted “based on the best interest of the City, as determined at the sole discretion of the City.”

Megan Dodge, the city’s director of Human Resources, said in an email to the Journal-World that while introducing a voluntary retirement program could be a helpful tool in budget planning, the city was more focused on how “impactful” the decision to retire could be for its eligible employees.

“We want to ensure that anyone considering the early retirement program has all the information they need to make the best choice they can,” Dodge said.

The program is open to active employees who are eligible for early retirement or full retirement through the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System or the KP&F Retirement System, which is a program specifically for police, fire and emergency service workers, as of July 1.

Employees interested in taking the retirement packages have two chances to apply: a first window that opened Wednesday and closes May 14 at 11:59 p.m. and a second window that opens May 19 and closes at Aug. 8 at 11:59 p.m. Employees who applied in the first window would be notified of the decision no later than May 23, while those who applied during the second window would be notified no later than Aug. 22.

Along with the proposed staffing reductions, the city has explored a range of cuts to the services being offered by some of its departments. The city has used feedback through an online tool called A Balancing Act from commissioners, special budget committees and residents’ online submissions to help decide which service levels could decrease.