Our Vision

We envision collaborative governance that empowers all stakeholders—residents, community organizations, businesses, and city government—to shape local policies, budgets, and outcomes.

City Budget

Coalition’s July 8 Budget Presentation!

You can read our public comments or watch each of our presentations:

Overview of City of Lawrence Financial Situation, Mandy Enfield

City of Lawrence Recent Budget Changes, Ari Dishinger
Transparency and Accuracy of Debt Data, Christina McKenna
Fund Balance Inaccuracies, Katie Brown
Paying Old Debt with New Debt, John Martin
Debt Spiral, Limit, and Capacity, Melinda Ball
Accuracy and Transparency Issues, Part 1, Bonnie Johnson
Accuracy and Transparency Issues, Part 2, Julie Jones
Bias in Community Engagement Questions, Patrick Ross

Fill Out Our Survey about the City Budget!

City of Lawrence Budget Analysis, Engagement, and Advocacy

To facilitate greater understanding and transparency regarding the City’s 2026 Budget, our coalition:

Conducted an independent analysis of the City’s current and proposed budgets.
Asked the City for increased transparency and public engagement regarding their budget.
Hosted A Community Conversation about the City Budget on June 5.
Produced our own community engagement survey to capture the public’s opinions about the City budget.
Presented before the Commission on June 17, which you can watch here:
- Overview of the City's debt increases and questions about the sustainability of their debt and their debt payment plan, Holly Krebs
- Transparency challenges our coalition faced, Christina McKenna
- Results from our survey's debt-related questions, Melinda Ball
- Survey comments about the City's capital investments and debt, Julie Jones