RESPONSES
TO CURRENT ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
The City encourages the Legislature to preserve funding for
essential municipal services. The City urges the restoration of demand
transfers and to continue the slider payments to local governments – the
machinery and equipment tax reimbursements adopted in 2006. Revenue sharing
programs between the state and municipalities are better tools for providing
property tax relief than artificial remedies – like caps on local mil levy
increases. The legislature should not prohibit local measures to raise revenue
such as development excise taxes. Cities need flexibility in responding to
local budgetary and fiscal needs.
Protecting sales taxes as an essential City revenue source to fund important City services
Lawrence voters in November of 2008, overwhelming approved three new local sales
tax measures for public transportation and infrastructure improvements. Sales
taxes are an increasingly important component of City budgets, funding essential
municipal services and capital improvements which benefit our entire
community. An important federal and state issue that must be addressed is the
legal authority to impose state, city, and county sales taxes on electronic
commerce and catalog sales. A sales tax on e-commerce and catalog sales
protects an important revenue source for state and local governments and puts
traditional land based businesses in our communities on an equal taxation
footing with their electronic competitors. The Kansas Legislature should
continue to pursue the “Stream-lined Sales Tax” efforts and other opportunities
to include Internet and catalog sales tax collection.
LOCAL TAXING & sPENDING DECISIONS SHOULD BE MADE BY
LOCALLY ELECTED OFFICIALS
The Lawrence City Commission strongly opposes the enactment
of State imposed spending or taxation controls or lids. The so-called Taxpayer
Bill of Rights (TABOR) proposals create an arbitrary and capricious procedure
for what should be an essential function of representative democracy: elected
officials determining the appropriate spending and taxing policies of their
community. Local tax and spending decisions should be made by locally elected
officials – not by artificial limits in the state statutes or constitution.
The City desires to partner with the Legislature to find solutions which will
ease the hardship of property tax burdens on low income, elderly homeowners
while maintaining adequate funding sources for City services.
municipal authority to enact excise taxes
The City of Lawrence supports the enactment of legislation
to allow all Kansas cities the ability to enact development excise taxes. In
2006 the Legislature adopted legislation which allows certain cities to
maintain existing excise taxes – but not cities such as Lawrence. This places
cities such as Lawrence at a competitive disadvantage – essentially penalizing Lawrence taxpayers who must pay more for infrastructure than residents of cities with
excise taxes. This is fundamentally unfair and the Legislature should enact
legislation allowing all cities this financing option.
telecommunications legislation
Lawrence's ability to
franchise utility companies and regulate its public rights-of-way must not be
compromised. Private companies which use a public asset – such as locally
owned right-of-way – should continue to be required to collect franchise fees.
These utilities should also continue to be required to relocate in the
right-of-way for public projects at their own expense – and not at the expense
of local taxpayers.
Tourism
The City of Lawrence offers many destination places for
travel and entertainment. The City encourages the State of Kansas to enact a
comprehensive tourism plan and to increase state funding of tourism promotion
and marketing.
KPERS AND KP&F – COMMITMENTS to OUR Public SErvants
KPERS and KP&F are very important benefits for the
individuals who have chosen public service in the State of Kansas, including
City of Lawrence employees. We do all Kansans a disservice by ignoring current
and future funding obligations for this vital benefit system. Any proposals to
change KPERS and KP&F should encourage – not discourage – public service.
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING & FUNDING
We support the current State highway program and the necessary
funding to achieve the goals of the program. We support efforts to renew the
State of Kansas Comprehensive Transportation Program beyond 2009 and provide
additional resources for our transportation needs, including streets, transit,
pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and airport improvements.
The City of Lawrence recommends revision of the formula used
to allocate federal funds to municipal transit providers. The current system
is inequitable in its allocation methodology.
homeland
security
The City of Lawrence urges an active partnership between
state and local governments regarding issues of homeland security. The City’s
police department and our City/County fire and medical department are essential
resources in providing security and safety to our community. These departments
rely on funding resources that should be protected by our State legislature.
STATE
LIMITS ON
ANNEXATION POWERS
In the 2008 session, legislation was introduced that would
have severely limited the authority of the City to annex new property. The
City of Lawrence opposes efforts to limit the ability of cities to annex. We
oppose changes to the current state annexation statutes. Annexation provides a
key tool for municipal ability to manage and plan for growth.
CITY AUTHORITY FOR REGULATION OF DRINKING
ESTABLISHMENTS
Some drinking establishments negatively impact the public’s
health and safety because of the manner in which they are organized or
managed. Currently, Kansas statutes do not grant cities any measure of
direct control over liquor licensing decisions related to such drinking
establishments located within their boundaries, and this limits the ability of
the cities to move to timely address these negative secondary effects. We
urge that cities be granted the power to deny drinking establishment licenses
for these establishments when the evidence clearly establishes such harms.
STATE ALCOHOL TAX
FUNDS IMPORTANT CITY & COMMUNITY SERVICES
The City of Lawrence and many community groups rely heavily
on monies received from State taxes levied on alcohol purchases. Pursuant to
State law, one-third of the fund revenues are allocated to the City's General Fund, one-third to the Special Recreation Fund and one-third goes in the City’s
Special Alcohol Fund. Resources in the City’s general fund provide support for
a number of City services, while monies deposited in the City’s Recreation Fund
provides resources for a number of park and recreation activities. A number
of not-for-profit Lawrence organizations and our school resource officers rely
on the funds from the City’s Special Alcohol Fund for their programs. These programs and services are vital to the health of the
Lawrence community. The City of Lawrence opposes any efforts to divert or
diminish the distribution of local alcohol tax fund dollars to the state.
HOUSING
TRUST FUND SUPPORT
The City urges the Legislature to favorably consider funding
options for local housing trust funds, including the ability to locally
increase mortgage registration fees to provide a revenue source to fund city
sponsored housing trust funds enhancing housing opportunities for residents
unfunded mandates
The City of Lawrence opposes unfunded mandates from the
State of Kansas as they drain limited resources from needed City programs and
activities. State legislators know how federal mandates hamper the State's ability to respond to problems and issues, similarly the State should not impose unfunded
mandates on local units of government. The City supports state and federal
financial assistance for mandated public works improvements, such as the
current levee recertification requirements.
RESPONDING
TO OUR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES
We continue to support State efforts to encourage resource
conservation and recycling. The City also encourages the legislature to adopt
measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adopt measures to encourage
energy conservation and use of public transportation. Incentives should be created
for the use of alternative fuels and transportation, retrofitting of existing
structures for energy efficient technology, and increased use of solar, wind
and other environmentally friendly energy resources.
ENSURING ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLIES FOR OUR FUTURE
Because a good water supply is essential to the welfare and
growth of the Lawrence community, the City Commission has taken steps to assure continued quality water resources. The City opposes federal and
state regulatory changes to quality standards that are not demonstrably related
to public health unless adequate state and federal financial assistance is
provided to meet such new treatment requirements. We oppose water transfers
that will negatively affect Lawrence’s current and future water supplies.
The City of Lawrence supports continued study and
implementation of appropriate plans to respond to the sedimentation issues of
Kansas Reservoirs. Clinton Reservoir is a vital water supply source for the Lawrence community. The City of Lawrence supports increases in the municipal water fees
funding the State Water Plan if such increases fund water project beneficial to
preserving the quantity and quality of or vital water resources. Municipal
water fees should only increase in proportion to increases on other water plan
fees for industrial and agricultural users.
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Clinton
Reservoir is vital to Lawrence’s water supply
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