photo by: Mike Yoder

The Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St.

The potential for financial woe at the Watkins Museum of History seems a little bit less than it did weeks ago when the downtown museum was contemplating its 2022 budget.

No, Douglas County commissioners on Tuesday — the second day of budget hearings for the county — did not express support for an $85,000 funding request from Watkins that was aimed to shore up the operations of the museum and avoid staff layoffs.

Rather, they reminded museum leaders of a fact that may hang over much of the county’s budget deliberations — there are still $23 million in federal funds that Douglas County will need to figure out how to spend after this budget process wraps up in August.

That makes this an unusual budget year at the County Courthouse. The federally approved American Rescue Plan is creating a second round of pandemic relief funding for many government organizations. Signed into law in March, it will provide about $350 billion of additional funding for state and local governments. County Administrator Sarah Plinsky has said about $23 million will come to Douglas County.

How it will be spent, though, is still unclear, even as county commissioners contemplate raising the property tax rate to fund the county’s 2022 budget. Plinsky has advised commissioners that the county shouldn’t try to tackle how to spend those federal funds until the county has completed its budget work, which is scheduled to be done by mid-August.

“It will be right on the heels of that,” Plinsky said of her timeline for creating a process for allocating the millions in federal funding.

But as the Watkins situation showed, there would be advantages to knowing how the federal money is going to be spent as county commissioners determine what to fund and what to cut as part of the 2022 general county budget.

Plinsky, though, has noted the timing is difficult. For instance, the county can’t just decide to approve its general budget later in the year. State law requires it be approved in August. Given that the staff working on the budget will be the same staff working on the federal funding process, getting the budget done has taken priority.

It may lead to a situation, though, where the County Commission approves a property tax increase at the same time that the county has received a windfall of more than $20 million in federal funds. Plinsky is recommending a 1.768 mill levy increase, which equates to about $40 more a year in taxes for the owner of a $200,000 home. The proposed increase is driven by a new funding deal between the county and the City of Lawrence, which requires the county to pay a greater share of operating costs for the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical department.

At first glance, it doesn’t appear that the increased funding for the fire and ambulance service would qualify as a federally approved use of the pandemic funds. But there certainly may be other elements of the county budget that would qualify as approved uses of the pandemic funds.

Thus far, the federal government has issued guidelines that allow funding to be used to replace revenue for government programs that were hit hard by the pandemic. The funds also can be used to pay for direct expenditures the county made as a result of the pandemic. It also can fund “premium pay” for essential workers and can be used to make investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. Importantly, the guidelines say the county can use the funds to assist “small businesses, households, and hard hit industries,” as well as for general “economic recovery” uses.

“We are starting to get good guidance on it now,” Plinsky said of learning how the money can be used. “We will want to be more deliberate in this process than we were able to be in the first round of funding. We want to give folks more time to make applications too.”

This funding, unlike the first round, can be spent over a two-year period.

“But we still need to remember they are funds that will go away,” Plinsky said. “We need to make sure we are funding programs we really can sustain.”

As for Watkins, the museum at 11th and Massachusetts streets wasn’t promised that it would get a piece of the federal funding from the county. But it was strongly encouraged to apply for that funding, and Plinsky said she expected historical organizations would be on the list that gets strong consideration.

Steven Nowak, executive director of the Douglas County Historical Society, told commissioners he thought Watkins would be a good use for some of the federal money because the museum really just needs to buy time to give its donor base a chance to recover from the pandemic.

County Commissioner Patrick Kelly also said a good case could be made that funding such organizations is helping with the overall community’s recovery by encouraging events and gatherings again.

“Getting back together and celebrating is important, and celebrating our heritage is a great way to do that,” he said.

Other news from day two of the county’s budget hearings included:

• County officials are interested in exploring a change that could separate the jointly run Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department into two organizations. County commissioners made no decision on the topic, but it came up for discussion as the county heard a $96,000 request to add a new planning position to the county-run Zoning and Codes Department.

The question came up about why the county would need to add a planner position when it also funds part of the operations of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department, which has many planners.

County commissioners were told there are some planning tasks that are pretty unique to rural development that would benefit from a county planner, and the position also could help with open space initiatives that the county has expressed an interest in.

But Plinsky also said there are some reasons to question whether the current joint department is the best structure. She said the arrangement clearly has some benefits, but also noted that many counties have their own separate planning commissions.

“I do think that is one of the things we need to explore,” she said. “Is there value in a consolidated planning commission? If so, how do we equitably share that work?”

County Commissioner Shannon Portillo also said another possibility is to continue to have a shared planning commission but to have separate city and county planning staffs. Plinsky said that also was worth exploring.

And so too, Plinsky said, is the idea that the county simply would start paying less for the joint city-county planning department. It currently pays one-sixth of the department’s costs.

Plinsky said she expects the planning department topic is one that she and Lawrence City Manager Craig Owens will discuss as part of a strategy to renegotiate several joint operating agreements between the two governments.

• There’s also some interest in separating the city-county department that focuses on environmental sustainability. The County Commission heard two proposals to restructure the sustainability office.

The first would keep it as a joint city-county entity but would alter the funding split and would add 5.5 new full-time positions to the office, which currently has three employees. Those employees would include two analyst positions, two public engagement specialists, and a part-time farm manager who would oversee a community garden network. The request would require about $240,000 of additional funding from the county, plus an equal amount from the city.

The second proposal would convert the sustainability office to a county-only department. The plan would seek two new full-time employees — one analyst and one public engagement specialist — at a cost of about $192,000 for the county.

Plinsky didn’t include either request in her recommended budget. It is not yet known whether the City of Lawrence’s budget will include increased funding for the sustainability office. The city manager plans to release his recommended budget late next week.