photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawrence City Commissioners voted to go over the revenue neutral rate, setting the maximum mill levy at 33.986 — a rate 0.8 mills higher than the initial budget proposal.

The Lawrence City Commission voted Tuesday night to exceed its revenue neutral rate, and after lengthy discussion, bumped up the maximum mill levy from the initial rate proposed in the budget to a higher amount to create some budgetary “wiggle room.”

Commissioners voted 3-2 to exceed the revenue neutral rate and set the maximum mill levy at 33.986 mills. Commissioners Bart Littlejohn and Lisa Larsen were the no votes.

The revenue neutral rate, as defined by state law, is the mill levy required to raise the same amount of property tax revenue as the prior year, using the current year assessed valuation amount. According to a city memo, that rate would be 31.379 mills. Once the city sets its maximum mill levy, which it has to do by July 20, the mill levy can be lowered but can no longer be raised.

The initial mill rate that was proposed in the 2026 budget proposal was 33.186 mills, which was slightly lower than last year’s rate of 33.232 mills as the Journal-World reported. But in the face of needing to find $6.5 million in budget cuts this year, commissioners discussed — and ultimately voted — to raise the maximum mill levy by 0.8 mills.

Before voting on the mill levy, commissioners heard from a couple of Lawrence police officers and members of the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical department. Both those departments faced cuts of over $1 million to their budgets, which is a about 4% cut as the Journal-World reported.

Seamus Albritton, the President of the union that represents Lawrence firefighters, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1596, asked the commission to consider raising the revenue neutral rate to potentially provide more funding for LDCFM expansion. As the city looks to construct a new fire station in the northwestern part of the city, known as “Station 6,” it has set aside funding in its Capital Improvement Plan to construct it, but the budget as it stands would remove one of the firetrucks from operation next year.

Albritton said LDCFM’s policy is to make sure it has the resources to respond to a fire, even if it brings 50 feet of extra hose it doesn’t end up using. It would be “dangerous and shameful” to not bring that extra rope, and Albritton asked commissioners to “bring that extra 50 feet of hose” by increasing the cap of the maximum mill levy.

Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei spoke in favor of raising the maximum mill levy allowance to “get a bit of wiggle room” for adding some more funding for the city and exploring how that can reduce certain cuts to the police or fire departments. Finkeldei initially suggested raising the mill levy by 0.5 mills to give the city more options this year.

Commissioner Amber Sellers wanted to raise the rate by a full mill, especially with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon. Sellers noted the city has not received any word from the state or federal government on if the city could receive additional funding for infrastructure projects for the likely influx of travel and possibility of serving as a base camp for a national team. She also did not want the city to limit itself in the conversation by not raising the maximum mill levy and “possibly hamstringing (the city).”

In the end, the commissioners compromised with a maximum mill levy increase of 0.8 mills. Although the city did not provide an exact number for how much more money the city could receive with that specific number, Alley Porter, a budget analyst for the city, said an increase in 0.5 mills would provide about $785,000 while a whole mill would provide $1.57 million — though a portion of both figures would be saved to add to the city’s fund balance.

Now that the maximum mill levy has been set, the city will next hold public hearings on the budget and the revenue neutral rate on Sept. 2.

In other business, commissioners approved a street mural in the Old West Lawrence neighborhood at the intersection of Alabama and Seventh streets.

The project, which is being led by local artist Dave Loewenstein, was approved in May by the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission for a mural that will be painted directly into the intersection near the Lawrence Community Nursery School, 645 Alabama St., as the Journal-World reported.

The mural, which was designed with the input of students at the nursery school and other local residents, will feature an ornate box turtle — the state reptile of Kansas — surrounded by a border circle that would feature images based on youth and neighbor drawings during design workshops.

The mural team plans to paint the mural later in the summer. According to a city memo, the work will be painted in a single day as long as there is good weather, and the team will coordinate with the city about the potential dates and warn neighbors about road closures.