CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

Week ending May 30, 2008

May sales sax distributions

The City of Lawrence has recently received its May sales tax distribution. The distribution is the result of retail sales from mid-March to mid-April. The amount budgeted in 2008 for total city sales tax revenue (city, county, and use taxes) equals $22,675,298. 

In order to estimate monthly sales tax revenues, a trend analysis of previous distributions is used. The 2008 estimate is based upon actual 2007 revenue while the 2008 budgeted amount only included a few months of 2007. Using this analysis, a projection of 2008 sales tax revenue was $22,602,146 or $73,152 less than the amount budgeted.  

Actual distributions in January, February, March, April, and May (reflecting mid-November through mid-April sales) total $9,406,316. Projections based on the trend analysis anticipated $9,248,792 for January through May collections. As a result, the actual distributions for the five months are $157,524 more than the amount projected.  A spreadsheet showing total monthly sales tax distributions since 2001 is attached.

It is recommended that the distributions be evaluated on a quarterly basis. This should result in a more reliable analysis because the variances due to collection and processing issues will have less of an impact. The 2008 to date sales tax distributions represent an increase of 5.9% over the same period in 2007. It is doubtful that this level of increase is sustainable since national trends continue to show very low growth in consumer spending. The 2008 projected amount represents a 2.8% increase over the 2007 distribution. Based upon the first five months results, it remains likely that our sales tax revenue will meet or exceed the projection and possibly the slightly higher budgeted amount.

Downtown road work to begin June 4

On June 4, milling will begin on Massachusetts Street from Sixth Street to North Park. The project also involves preparing the surface for pavement and then placing the asphalt, which will require two block sections of Massachusetts Street to be closed to traffic at a time. Weather permitting, Massachusetts Street from Sixth to Eighth Streets will close to traffic on June 9 and should open June 13. If there are no weather delays, the closure of Massachusetts Street from Eighth to Tenth Street will occur June 16 to June 20. Ninth Street at the intersection with Massachusetts Street will remain open to traffic during the project. The last section to close, Massachusetts Street from Tenth Street o North Park, is scheduled for June 23 to June 27, weather permitting.

During the project, sidewalks will remain open. Mid-block crosswalks will be closed during paving. During the periods when the asphalt is placed, only north and southbound crosswalks will be open at the intersections. Once Massachusetts Street is completed, contractors will move on to pave Seventh Street from Vermont to New York and Kentucky from Sixth Street to 12th Street. See the attached map of the project location.

Turnpike construction to close portion of toll plaza

Beginning Monday June 16, 2008, a portion of the “West Lawrence,” or South McDonald/Iowa Street, toll plaza will be closed for construction. Eastbound access will remain open, but the westbound entry and exit ramps will be closed at that time and traffic utilizing these ramps will need to use the East Lawrence or Lecompton plazas.

More stringent EPA ozone standards may affect Lawrence

The attached letter from the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Board contains information regarding the EPA’s new more stringent standards for ozone. Historical data suggests that Lawrence air quality may only barely meet the new standard. As a result, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment may have to implement environmental controls to reduce local ozone emissions. City staff will work with Douglas County and Health Department officials to review this information and analyze its potential impacts.

Fire Medical Department to apply for equipment grants

The Fire Medical Department will be applying for two grants to make one-time equipment purchases. The first grant is from Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, and would be used to purchase a Live Fire Extinguisher Training System. This system would be a safety improvement over the department’s current system, which is used to train around 500 citizens per year. The second grant is from the US Department of Homeland Security and would be used to purchase hazardous materials sampling test equipment to be used for fire and law enforcement responses to products of unknown identity. Both of these grants pay 100% of the equipment purchase price and require no local matching funds.

Lawrence walkability ranking featured in Kansas Government Journal

Lawrence’s recent ranking by Prevention Magazine as the most walkable city in Kansas was featured in the April issue of the Kansas Government Journal.