photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawrence's City Hall, located at 6 E. Sixth St., shown during June 2025.

Ten more City of Lawrence employees have opted for the city’s voluntary early retirement program, the city’s human resources director told the Journal-World, meaning 30 employees in total have taken the offer since it was announced this spring to help address a budget shortfall.

As the Journal-World reported, the city announced the program in April as it worked to cover the $6.5 million budget hole. The early retirement program had two windows for participants — the first one closed in May, and the second one closed on Friday. Twenty employees took the early retirement offer during the first period, as the Journal-World reported.

Megan Dodge, the city’s human resources director, said via email that the 10 employees who took the early retirement package during the second period had a “generally proportionate spread” across the city’s departments.

The number of city employees has risen over the past few years. In 2019, the city had budgeted for 846 full-time equivalent employees, according to that year’s budget. In the 2025 adopted budget, the city had budgeted for 999 full-time equivalent employees, but the city previously told the Journal-World only about 870 of those positions were filled, not counting part-time seasonal employees like lifeguards.

The city’s initial budget proposal included the elimination of 23 full-time positions, but Alley Porter, a budget manager with the city finance department, said during a City Commission meeting in July that all of those cuts were to vacant positions. Additionally, the city introduced an internal hiring policy to limit the possibility of layoffs. Dodge said those steps were important tools in delivering a sustainable budget.

Dodge said the city does not have a final position count for 2026 because of the ongoing budget process. The City Commission will hold a public hearing on the budget on Sept. 2, with formal adoption of the budget expected to take place Sept. 16.