photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Lawrence's City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., as seen on Monday, April 6, 2026.

Lawrence city commissioners will give their initial thoughts on a five-year capital projects plan next week, including whether to ask voters to renew a 0.3% infrastructure sales tax.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the City Commission will hear about the city’s proposed Capital Improvement Plan, which is a long-term list of infrastructure priorities the city puts together each budget season. This one is for 2027 to 2031, and commissioners will give their input on which projects should be prioritized.

They’ll also be asked about the city’s capital improvements sales tax, which is going to sunset in 2029 if voters don’t renew it.

The 0.3% sales tax helps fund a variety of infrastructure projects and was last renewed by voters in 2017, when it passed overwhelmingly. At that time, the Journal-World reported that it was expected to generate more than $60 million for capital projects between 2019, when the extension began, and 2029.

Commissioners on Tuesday will weigh in on whether to put another extension on the November 2027 ballot, and, if so, whether they would ask voters to keep it at 0.3% or change the tax rate.

A presentation from staff attached to the commission’s meeting agenda says that if the tax is not renewed in 2029, “approximately $20M of projects in out years will be unfunded.”

This is not the only sales tax-related issue commissioners are considering during their budget process this year.

Lawrence Transit is also asking the commission for a sales tax ballot question. But that question would be on the November 2026 ballot, and it would not be about extending the transit sales tax, which is also on track to sunset in 2029. Instead, it would increase the existing sales tax from 0.2% to 0.3% from April 2027 until that sunset date. The transit system has said it needs that extra sales tax revenue to maintain its current schedule and keep bus service free through 2029, and to continue working on a downtown bus station.

As for the funded items on the proposed Capital Improvement Plan, there are dozens of them, including some city leaders have discussed before. The total funded projects in the proposed five-year plan come to $407.7 million; roughly $88.5 million of that would be for 2027. Here are a few of the highlights among the funded projects, along with the cash flow the plan lists for them:

• Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical’s Station 6 expansion in northwest Lawrence: $5.8 million for 2027 and $6.1 million for 2028. Each of those amounts would include $2.3 million in intergovernmental funding from Douglas County.

• Phase 2 of the city’s Municipal Services and Operations campus: $20.4 million for 2027.

• City Hall reconfiguration: $3 million for 2027 and $6.5 million for 2028.

• Outdoor Aquatic Center renovation: $2.4 million for 2027.

• Downtown bus station: $2.03 million for 2027. $1.6 million of this project would be funded by state grant money.

In addition, there are nearly $335 million in projects that would be entirely unfunded, or would have portions that were unfunded. Among other things, they include improvements to Bob Billings Parkway west of Kansas Highway 10; another new fire station, Station 7; a City Hall annex; multiple segments of the Lawrence Loop trail; a permanent Lawrence Farmers Market pavilion; and a second outdoor aquatic facility. There are also a couple of unfunded projects that were requested by Lawrence residents, including reconfiguring Tennessee and Kentucky to better accommodate cyclists and pedestrians and building an amphitheater at Sesquicentennial Point near Clinton Lake.

This will not be the only opportunity for city commissioners to discuss the Capital Improvement Plan. They will have another workshop on it in June and are scheduled to adopt it in September.

In other business, the Lawrence City Commission will:

• Discuss the first year of the city’s new Land Development Code. The commission will have the chance to suggest amendments to the land use rules that staff could bring back for consideration at a future meeting.

• Receive the monthly recreation center memberships report. So far in 2026, Parks, Recreation and Culture has made $250,907 on membership fees, day passes and punch cards, which is 56% of its revenue estimate for the year, and $179,420 on tournament spectator fees, which is 72% of its estimate for the year.

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