photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

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

After months of discussions and a few recent changes, city leaders will soon take their final vote on a 2027 budget plan with a roughly 1-mill property tax rate increase.

The Lawrence City Commission will consider Tuesday whether to adopt the $397 million budget, which staff has tweaked a bit at the commission’s direction. The changes would allow the city to raise property taxes by 1.059 mills instead of the roughly 2 mills that were originally proposed.

Two big priorities have shaped this year’s budget talks: employee pay and benefits and the expansion of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical staffing. The budget plan commissioners will consider on Tuesday would include raises for city staff: a 2.5% general raise and a 5%, performance-based “step” increase for some workers. But the employee benefits and new LDCFM staffing would be smaller than what was originally proposed.

Unlike the city manager’s recommended budget plan from July, this budget plan would reduce the city’s contribution to its employee healthcare fund by about $670,000. It would also have 12 new LDCFM positions next year instead of the 15 originally recommended and would shrink LDCFM’s budget for overtime. And it wouldn’t add two non-first-responder positions that were in the original budget and would have supported the LDCFM expansion.

In addition, the budget would reduce Municipal Services and Operations funding by $220,000, which would decrease the resources available for alley rehabilitation work and professional services.

It would also make several additions to Parks, Recreation and Culture: increasing recreation and sports programming; maintaining free access to the Community Building; allowing 18-year-olds and disabled veterans access to free rec center memberships; and adding open swimming sessions for seniors.

Earlier this month, three city commissioners signaled tentative support for this plan. That would be enough to pass it, but Commissioner Mike Dever warned at the time that the consensus would have to stick for the budget to pass.

In other business, the commission will conduct a public hearing for a request to vacate the public right-of-way at 300 Mississippi St. as part of a lot split. The applicant wants to create two buildable lots there, and the right-of-way vacation would be necessary for the new lot sizes to comply with subdivision regulations.

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