Council stalls on Lawrence 2026 budget after hours of amendments; several enterprise funds approved

After a multi-hour session of proposed line-item cuts and repeated roll-call votes, the Lawrence City Council did not pass the mayor’s full proposed fiscal year 2026 appropriation on June 18.

Council action and context: Councilors debated dozens of amendments to the mayor’s recommended budget, focusing on personnel, purchased services and one-time items. Councilors proposed, discussed and voted on multiple targeted cuts — some passed and others failed — before voting on the full FY2026 budget. The full appropriation, as amended by councilors’ votes earlier in the evening, failed to carry at the final roll call.

Enterprise funds: The council did approve three enterprise budgets that were considered separately from the general appropriation: - Parking garage enterprise fund: approved by roll call (amount $1,102,500) - A public facilities/April-related enterprise (labelled “April” in the paperwork): approved (amount $783,000) - Water and sewer enterprise fund: approved (amount $21,778,191)

Key amendments and votes at the meeting (votes and counts are recorded from roll…