CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Sales Tax 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 distribution of $1,775,061 represents a decrease of $179,163 from the prior year distribution for the same month. Because of variations in monthly distributions, primarily due to late filings by vendors, it is advisable to not read too much into disparities between months. However, to date 2009 sales tax distributions are approximately 1.9% less than the same period of 2008. A spreadsheet showing total monthly sales tax distributions since 2001 is attached (revised 06/08/09).
Distributions from the voter-approved transit and infrastructure sales taxes totally approximately $54,000 were included in the amount received. The amounts from the new sales taxes were calculated by applying the relevant percentages to the sales tax distribution amounts that occurred after April 1.
Central repository for city’s energy conservation efforts online
Recently the City Commission has discussed multiple projects related to the city’s energy conservation efforts. A webpage has been created to serve as a portal to the information currently online. Visitors can get a quick overview of the efforts underway online at http://www.lawrenceks.org/energy_conservation. Public Works and Utilities staff can continue to update building assessments. eGov Coordinator Eric Gruber completed the programming for the page.
Class 1 & 2 soils identified on city’s interactive map
Planning & Development Services and Information Systems have added a new map layer to the Interactive Map of Lawrence depicting the location of Class 1 and Class 2 soils in Douglas County, Kansas. The source data for this map layer was obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. The data layer can be found by expanding the Planning Layers option in the layers list on the right side of the interactive map screen. The Interactive Map can be accessed through http://www.lawrenceks.org/information_systems/interactive_mapping.
Parks & Recreation teams with the US Corps of Engineers for road projects
The Parks and Recreation Department is partnering with the US Corps of Engineers at Clinton Lake to improve a number of park roads. Throughout the summer the Corps of Engineers will be working to replace the toe road that runs along the base of the Clinton Lake Dam. This road provides access to Eagle Bend Golf Course, and all of the other park amenities that are operated on the property the city leases from the Corps. As part of this project the Corps will be removing, and disposing of, a large quantity of the existing road bed material. In an effort to keep the cost of trucking to a minimum on this project they have requested that the city find places for the material to be used on-site for construction of service roads or parking areas. Toward this end Parks and Recreation will be developing some much needed service road and parking upgrades to better service the two sides of the park (see attached). In the short term, these roads will be gated most of the time and will be used primarily for equipment traffic. They may be used occasionally for special events and large public activities in the park to allow for better traffic flow. When the need arises to open these roads for public park use, the road base will be in place to allow for future upgrade. By teaming together on this project the city benefits by not needing to pay for material or trucking costs for the road bed, and the Corps benefits by not having to pay for disposal of the road bed material.