Overview
Lawrence's 2026 budget plans $432,550,000 in expenditures across all funds, led by the General Fund at $118,231,000, Water & Wastewater at $69,982,000, and Debt Service at $71,693,000. The state certificate that accompanies the budget sets maximum budget authority at $661,929,958 and ad valorem tax at $54,637,669. The city's total mill levy for the 2026 budget is 33.674 mills (General 21.630, Debt Service 7.956, Library 4.088), above the revenue neutral rate of 31.379 mills - the budget required and received a resolution to exceed it. The budget was built to close a $6.6 million General Fund gap identified at the start of the process, with $2 million of revenue over expenses set aside to restore fund balance.
Source: City of Lawrence 2026 adopted budget book, fund overview and property-tax sections.
At a glance
Source: City of Lawrence 2026 adopted budget book, fund overview and property-tax sections.
All funds - 2026 adopted (budget book)
These are the book's fund-overview figures - planned expenditures by fund. They sum exactly to the book's printed $432,550,000 total. The certificate's authority figures differ by design (see the basis notice); the certificate's three levy funds are General $138,725,000, Debt Service $107,849,000, and Library $6,960,000.
| Fund | 2026 budget | 2025 adopted (comparison) |
|---|---|---|
| General (101) | $118,231,000 | $116,180,000 |
| Capital Sales Tax (201) | $11,769,000 | $13,435,000 |
| Library (202) | $6,960,000 | $6,625,000 |
| Transit (203) | $5,521,000 | $5,835,000 |
| Housing Trust (204) | $2,522,000 | $2,404,000 |
| Transient Guest Tax (221) | $2,875,000 | $2,797,000 |
| Special Alcohol (222) | $1,074,000 | $884,000 |
| Special Highway (223) | $4,133,000 | $3,479,000 |
| Special Recreation (224) | $1,089,000 | $1,274,000 |
| Law Enforcement Trust (225) | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| Kansas Fights Addiction Act (226) | $100,000 | $95,000 |
| Federal Funds Exchange (227) | $1,180,000 | $1,180,000 |
| Airport (242) | $752,000 | $597,000 |
| City Parks Memorial (243) | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Farmland Remediation (245) | $309,000 | $317,000 |
| Cemetery Perpetual (246) | $20,000 | $12,000 |
| Wee Folks Scholarship (248) | $50,000 | $35,000 |
| Economic Development (271-277) | $3,219,000 | $3,186,000 |
| Debt Service (301) | $71,693,000 | $60,112,000 |
| Equipment Reserve (401) | $633,000 | $631,000 |
| Capital Projects (402) | $11,825,000 | $81,449,000 |
| Water & Wastewater (501) | $69,982,000 | $73,627,000 |
| Solid Waste (502) | $21,590,000 | $20,132,000 |
| Public Parking (503) | $3,189,000 | $2,427,000 |
| Storm Water (504) | $22,529,000 | $6,579,000 |
| Utilities Bonded Construction (505) | $10,851,000 | $56,020,000 |
| Utilities Cash Construction (506) | $1,010,000 | $10,000 |
| Administrative Services (601) | $17,489,000 | $23,418,000 |
| Health & Wellness (602) | $20,806,000 | $19,337,000 |
| Risk Management (604) | $4,377,000 | $3,837,000 |
| Fleet (605) | $6,100,000 | $0 |
| Federal Grants (801) | $6,475,000 | $5,769,000 |
| Fair Housing Grant (803) | $21,000 | $22,000 |
| CDBG (804) | $1,014,000 | $902,000 |
| HOME Grant (805) | $432,000 | $454,000 |
| Transportation Planning (806) | $350,000 | $328,000 |
| State Grants (851) | $2,260,000 | $5,269,000 |
| Total | $432,550,000 | $518,778,000 |
Source: City of Lawrence 2026 adopted budget book, fund overview and property-tax sections.
General Fund
The General Fund budget of $118,231,000 is up $1,786,000 (1.53%) over the 2025 revised budget, while its revenues are up $5,821,000 (5.08%). The fund's mill levy rate rose 0.488 mills to 21.630. The book notes that $2 million of anticipated revenue over expenses is intended for fund-balance restoration under City Commission direction, and that the General Fund supports most core services: Police, Fire Medical, Parks, Recreation & Culture, street maintenance, and Planning & Development Services. The book's department pages are chart-based, so no department-level General Fund breakdown is extracted here; the fund table above is the complete sum-checked breakdown.
General Fund - budget book figures
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| General Fund budget, 2026 | $118,231,000 |
| General Fund, 2025 revised budget | $116,445,000 |
| General Fund, 2025 adopted budget | $116,180,000 |
| General Fund, 2024 actuals | $110,964,183 |
| Total | $118,231,000 |
Source: City of Lawrence 2026 adopted budget book, fund overview and property-tax sections.
Debt
On the certificate, Debt Service budget authority is $107,849,000 with ad valorem tax of $12,790,424; in the book, Debt Service planned expenditures are $71,693,000, up $11,581,000 (19.27%) over the 2025 revised budget, at a maintained mill levy of 7.956 mills. The Finance department's General Overhead line of $74,530,000 includes the city's debt costs of principal, interest, temporary notes, and issuance expenses. The city's general obligation debt rating is Aa1 and its revenue bond rating is Aa2. State law limits general obligation debt to 30% of total assessed valuation; the book's legal-debt-margin appendix table is chart-only in the extraction, so no margin dollar figure is claimed here.
Source: City of Lawrence 2026 adopted budget book, fund overview and property-tax sections.
Sources & notes
- Sources used: City of Lawrence 2026 Operating Budget & Capital Improvement Plan (budget book), fund overview, property-tax, sales-tax, and major-funds sections; and the city's 2026 state budget certificate for authority, ad valorem, revenue neutral rate, and the exceed resolution. Read the budget book (PDF).
- Source note: the inventory's assets.lawrenceks.gov budget-book link did not load, so the city's current-file copy of the same book was used instead; the certificate figures are from the city's September 2025 adoption packet (Resolution 7632).
- Sum checks: the book's 2026 fund-overview column sums exactly to its printed $432,550,000 total; the certificate's ad valorem components sum exactly to $54,637,669; the certificate's authority components sum to $661,929,960, which is $2 above the printed $661,929,958 total - a $2 rounding or transcription difference in the source, disclosed here. The mill-levy components (21.630 + 7.956 + 4.088) sum exactly to 33.674.
- What is missing: no audit or 2026 actuals are used; department-level General Fund figures are chart-only in the book and are not extracted.
- City palette: no verified City of Lawrence palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a city color.