CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

Week ending May 7, 2010

Contractor licensing continuing education

Contractor licensing provides valuable consumer protections for citizens of Lawrence and also contributes to a superior quality of building through a continuing education component for all licensed contractors.  From its inception, the city partnered with Johnson County to provide the majority of contractor education.  As choices about classes have expanded throughout the state, it now seems prudent to consider separating contractor education from the city’s licensing program in order to provide greater flexibility for contractors.  The education component of the program would remain for all of its benefits, but contractors would not pay for education as part of the contractor licensing fee.  Additionally, staff proposes to establish a license application fee and certification exam sponsorship fee as outlined in the attached memo.  Staff will be presenting the topic at a future City Commission agenda.

2010 Budget Comparison Information Updated

The attached information is an update to the 2010 Budget comparison information provided earlier this year.  It shows how the City of Lawrence compares to the nine other largest cities in the state in terms of assessed valuation, mill levy, and local sales tax for the 2010 budget year.  The city mill levy is below average and the total mills levied by all taxing entities in Lawrence is lower than all but two of the communities in the comparison.  With the adoption of the new sales taxes in 2008 and creation of the two Transportation Development Districts in Lawrence, our combined sales tax rate is now among the highest in this comparison, however, most of these communities have sales taxes in the upper 7% to lower 8% range. 

The League of Kansas Municipalities has also released its annual Kansas Tax Rate and Fiscal Data Book, which provides information on 2009 taxes levied for 2010 by Kansas cities, counties and school districts.

Impact of Change in Countywide Sales Tax Ratio

Pursuant to state law, proceeds from the county-wide sales tax are allocated using the ratio of the population and property taxes levied in each city or unincorporated area of the County to the total population and total property taxes levied in the county.  As the other cities or unincorporated areas in Douglas County have grown and/or increased their property taxes, the City of Lawrence has received a smaller portion of the county-wide sales tax proceeds. 

As shown on the attached spreadsheet, the City of Lawrence ratio has decreased almost two percent since 2005.  If you apply the difference in sales tax ratio to the total countywide sales tax from each year, the change in ratio has cost the City $172,178 since 2005, with the majority of the loss occurring in 2008.  If you assume the ratio remained unchanged every year since 2005, the change in ratio has cost the City $344,104 since 2005. 

April building permits report

There were 155 permits issued in April, compared to 169 permits issued in April 2009. Permit valuation was $12,605,541 compared to $6,482,254 last year. Fees were $41,877.60 versus $47,977.68 a year ago. Eight permits were issued for new single-family dwellings last month. This compares to six permits issued for new single-family dwellings along with two permits for apartment buildings containing 16 dwelling units in April last year. Please see the attached memo, summary report and full report for more details.

LCS Management Plan posted to city webpage

The City Commission approved a special use permit for the Lawrence Community Shelter’s new location on April 20, 2010. Conditions of approval require LCS to hold at least three public meetings with neighbors and other stakeholders regarding the management plan for the shelter and for said management plan to be posted to the LCS and city websites at least seven days prior to each meeting.  The plan can be found on the city’s website at:

http://www.lawrenceks.org/lawrence_community_shelter.

City, local organizations partner with KU Athletics

In an effort to promote collaboration, the city, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Lawrence, Inc., and the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau recently came together to host events centered around KU Athletics’ Spring Relays and Spring Game. The committee worked together to design events and programs that would promote and encourage attendance at events on campus and in downtown Lawrence. 

For the Spring Relays, a flyer was handed out to all participants with coupons for local restaurants and retail stores. The merchants reported seeing numerous track and field teams shopping and eating in downtown but did not report wide usage of the coupon.

For the Spring Game, a similar coupon was provided to everyone who attended the Spring Game; retailers saw a more robust crowd in downtown overall. A free bus shuttle was provided from downtown Lawrence to the stadium and 658 people took advantage of the free transportation. After the Spring Game kicked off, KU Athletics brought the Hy-Vee Fun Zone to downtown Lawrence. After the game was over, many football fans came downtown to celebrate and enjoy the Hy-Vee Fun Zone and live entertainment.

All of the collaborating organizations helped to promote and market both events.  In particular, the Spring Game event received good publicity throughout the state and KU Athletics reported a noticeable increase in attendance at the Spring Game over previous years.

All of the organizations agreed that the collaboration was a success. The committee is looking for ways to encourage participation with KU Athletics’ events in the future. A potential event is being discussed that would take place in late summer/early fall in conjunction with the kick-off of football season.