Get email alerts on the Shared Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
LDCFM proposes six-factor formula to split shared operating costs between Lawrence and Douglas County
Summary
Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical (LDCFM) staff proposed a new six-factor model to allocate shared operating expenses between the City of Lawrence and Douglas County, producing a composite allocation around 60.6% city / 39.4% county and recommending a multi-year governance agreement.
Representatives of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical presented a proposed new approach May 6 for allocating the joint service27s shared operating costs between the City of Lawrence and Douglas County.
Chief Darling and LDCFM governance staff outlined weaknesses of the prior single-factor method (a staffing-based split) that produced volatile year-to-year swings when staffing assignments changed. To reduce abrupt shifts and better reflect service demand, the governance team proposed an unweighted composite of six objective factors: total population, total population protected, apparatus responses (counting each deployed apparatus), a fire/EMS staffing ratio, incidents by planning zone, and a modeled split that estimates how responses would have been allocated had the agencies remained separate. Applying 2020 census and recent 2024202025 call data produced a composite result of roughly 60.6% city / 39.4% county for shared operating expenses.
Staff said the formula is intended to be robust against small year-to-year changes, to provide clearer multi-year budgeting for both partners and to allow more targeted conversations about where to deploy resources without triggering large fiscal swings. Governance recommended a multi-year contract for the allocation (staff suggested three years to allow adjustments once Station 6 opens and to gather further data).
Commissioners questioned whether capital purchases (ambulances, fire apparatus) would remain the separate responsibility of the agency that historically purchased them; presenters said capital was envisioned to remain outside the shared operating bucket with the existing practice continuing unless changed by agreement. Public commenters including a former chief praised the analytic approach and urged archiving the derivation for future transparency.
The governance team will bring a formal recommendation and proposed multi-year agreement back to the board for approval; staff recommended using the composite percentages to build the 2027 budget pending a formal governance contract.
AI generated
The text on this page is AI generated. Summaries, highlights, analysis, and video transcripts are all produced from the original source material.
AI can make mistakes, so if you spot one, and we will fix it for everyone.
Note: the source content is unaltered by us. Any content source we link to, be it a video, an audio recording, or a document, is presented exactly as its publisher released it. That publisher is usually a government body, sometimes an individual official or another organisation.
