photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

LDCFM Firetruck Ladder 5 in July 2023.

The City of Lawrence’s preliminary budget for 2027 would include an approximately 3-mill property tax rate increase for fire and medical expansion, and city commissioners will get their first chance to discuss it at their meeting next week.

On Tuesday, the commission will be asked to give feedback on several issues related to the 2027 budget, including their thoughts on the proposed mill levy increase to support Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical’s Station 6 expansion in northwest Lawrence. Staff also wants guidance on the city’s employee pay structure and whether they would like to put an increase to the city’s transit sales tax on the November ballot.

The proposed 3-mill increase is higher than the increase that the commission approved last year for the 2026 budget. As the Journal-World reported, the 2026 budget proposal originally included a flat mill levy, but also $6.4 million in budget cuts across the city’s departments. Ultimately, commissioners decided to slightly increase the mill levy by 0.488, for a final rate of 33.674 mills.

Commissioners last year also directed the city manager to develop a future budget proposal that would include property tax increases to support staffing for Station 6. The station, planned for 555 Stoneridge Drive, entered its early design phases last year, after years of talk about the need for a new station in that part of the city. It’s on the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, which lists about $5.4 million and $5.7 million for the project in 2027 and 2028, respectively, and city staff previously estimated that it would cost $4.7 million to operate it.

The proposed 2027 budget would also include a 2.5% wage adjustment for city employees, and it will need to address the rising cost of employee health benefits.

The transit sales tax, which funds the city’s bus system, was put in place after a public vote in 2008 and reaffirmed in another public vote in 2018, and it is due to sunset in 2029. City staff is proposing a ballot question for this November that would increase the sales tax from 0.2% to 0.3%. The increase, according to the presentation, is to “match rising national transit costs,” and it would let the city retain its current fare-free bus service until 2029 and continue its work on a downtown bus station.

Tuesday will be the commission’s first chance to discuss the 2027 budget, but it won’t be the last. The commission is scheduled to discuss the Capital Improvement Plan and the budget in more detail in June and July, and to hold public hearings and adopt the budget in September.

In other business, the commission will:

• Consider approving the Lawrence Police Department’s request to participate in the federal Law Enforcement Support Office program. The program transfers surplus Department of Defense property to local law enforcement agencies, and LPD wants to use it to obtain night vision equipment and training ammunition for firearms. LPD has not been enrolled in this program before.

• Receive a presentation on cold weather rules for utilities. The city currently has an informal practice of suspending utility disconnections during extended periods of below-freezing temperatures, and staff will go over the potential effects of implementing a formal cold weather policy.

• Receive the monthly recreation center membership report from Lawrence Parks, Recreation and Culture. The department sold 799 memberships during its second month of charging for access, after selling 2,542 in January. It has now made $208,000 from memberships, day passes and punch cards, which is 46% of its revenue goal.

• Consider a recommendation from the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission for local artist Tokeya Waci U Richardson to paint a mural for the Vermont Street parking garage. The mural design includes motifs of sunflowers and hands, an image of a bison, and depictions of the Lawrence Public Library and the Haskell arch.

The City Commission meets at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.

photo by: Contributed

Two versions of a mural design for the Vermont Street parking garage by Tokeya Waci U Richardson.