photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County Commissioners gathered at the Public Works building, 3755 E 25th St., for their work session and business meeting on Wednesday, August 7, 2024.

The county’s rural Consolidated Fire District No. 1 presented its 2025 budget proposal to Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday, and two of its biggest concerns are maintenance costs and the need to replace older equipment.

The maintenance costs are going up, John Mathis, interim fire chief for the Consolidated Fire District No. 1, told the commission at its work session about the budget. And some of the department’s oldest equipment dates back decades. Mathis said the oldest equipment the fire district uses is from 1994, which is the year after he started on the fire service.

The proposed budget, which totals $2,296,443 in expenditures, includes some steps to address these deficiencies. It outlines plans to acquire battery-powered jaws of life equipment; update the pump, tank, and hose systems on several brush fire trucks; and further bolster the fire district’s equipment reserve fund.

County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said commissioners may need to start considering putting money aside for equipment replacements. She touched on the district’s mill levy, which has remained at 5.5 mills since the district was established by consolidating the services of five township fire departments in 2021.

“It’s one of those things that over the next couple of years we have to be really cautious about,” Plinsky said. “We’ve worked hard to maintain this static mill levy of 5.5 mills that we sort of promised when we consolidated, and if assessed valuation grows at 2% we’ll have to think about raising the mill levy.”

Commissioner Patrick Kelly said the county might need to schedule another work session to discuss the equipment issues further.

“As we think about future work session topics, this might be a good topic for us to cover and to go over what the state of the equipment is now and how we might use some of this fund balance to address that,” Kelly said.

Wednesday’s discussion of the fire district’s budget was part of a work session, which means the commission did not take any action on it. The fire district’s budget is scheduled for a vote on Aug. 28, alongside Douglas County’s 2025 budget.

In other business, commissioners:

* During a work session, heard a presentation on the county’s five-year capital improvement plan, which calls for replacing 10 county bridges and extending Wakarusa Drive across the Wakarusa River.

County staff included an overview of what projects the CIP is proposing for the upcoming five years. Some of the most significant items making up the CIP are road and bridge projects, which are estimated to cost $14.3 million over the next five years to replace 10 bridges in the county. To get started on these projects, county staff is proposing a transfer of $5,377,380 in 2025 for projects in the county’s capital improvement plan. Of this total, $1,744,380 would be dedicated to facilities projects, while $3,602,845 would be allocated to road and bridge projects.

* Executed agreements with the Kansas Department of Transportation, the City of Lawrence, and Douglas County outlining each party’s responsibilities on the expansion and future maintenance of the South Lawrence Trafficway.

The SLT expansion project seeks to widen the current two-lane freeway on K-10 and shared US-40 by adding two additional lanes, resulting in a four-lane freeway. It will also involve the reconstruction of the existing interchanges at Clinton Parkway and US-59/Iowa Street, along with the construction of a new interchange at the intersection of Wakarusa Drive and 27th Street. Additionally, the project includes replacing and/or repairing existing culvert structures at K-10 and the West Branch Yankee Tank Creek.

The agreement specifies that Douglas County will contribute $320,000 for the realignment of East 902 Road and the cul-de-sac at North 1250 Road. County staff coordinated with KDOT to incorporate these elements into the South Lawrence Trafficway project; however, KDOT has classified them as “non-participating” costs, which must be covered by the local government. These improvements are intended to address the impacts on local roads caused by KDOT’s work. The costs will be accounted for in the county’s capital improvement plan.

* Approved a memorandum of understanding between Douglas County and the Kansas Department of Transportation outlining each party’s responsibilities for the extension of Wakarusa Drive.