Lawrence budget points to tax hike, raises and fire station funding
Lawrence’s next budget points to a two-mill tax hike, a 2.5% raise and Fire Station 6 staffing, forcing residents to weigh taxes against slower response times.
Lawrence city leaders are signaling a 2027 budget that would raise property taxes, lift pay for city workers and begin paying for Fire Station 6, a package that would hit residents’ bills while emergency coverage remains under pressure on the city’s edges.
When the recommended budget is released, it is expected to include a two-mill property-tax rate increase to help cover staffing for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Station 6, a 2.5% general wage increase for city employees, step increases for some workers and a recommendation to keep the rec center fees adopted this year. City officials have said operating the new station would cost about $4.5 million a year, and staff are still sorting out the best hiring timeline for the station.
The numbers matter because Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical says response times have lengthened over several years, and some areas of the city cannot meet benchmark performance with current resources. City documents say fire truck travel times to structure fires have exceeded six minutes over the past three years, two minutes slower than the National Fire Protection Association’s adopted four-minute benchmark. Station 6 is planned for 555 Stoneridge Drive, near Sixth Street and the South Lawrence Trafficway and George Williams Way, a site approved by both the Lawrence City Commission and the Douglas County Commission in September 2025.
The station is not just a building project. A city report in April 2026 said staff wanted to use the Construction Manager at Risk delivery method for Station 6 after predesign work that included benchmarking, visioning, programming and site selection. City staff also said a public engagement session was held Jan. 5, 2026, at the Indoor Aquatic Center. A 2025 budget presentation said a new medic unit would move to the expansion station when it opens.
The funding fight has already drawn lines. In March, commissioners agreed the fire-medical expansion was necessary but differed on how large a property-tax increase should carry it. In May, police officers urged commissioners not to cut police funding to pay for the fire-medical expansion. Lt. Amy Rhoads said public safety should not be funded one-sidedly.
The broader budget picture is tighter still. A 2025 budget transmittal letter said the city needs additional revenue for fire-medical expansion, chronic homelessness efforts, long-term sustainability and market-based compensation. Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical’s 2020 annual report said the department operated five fire-EMS stations in Lawrence and two EMS stations in Baldwin City and Eudora, a footprint that helps explain why Station 6 is being treated as part of a system-wide response to a growing city, not an isolated capital project.
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