Go West, Lawrence!
“Go West, young man…”
- John Babsone Lane Soule (1851)
“The West is the best. Get here and we’ll do the rest.”
- Jim Morrison (The Doors, 1967)
We at K-10 Development Group believe both men have a point: Lawrence must grow west to provide attainable housing and a new tax base that will help prevent Lawrence from becoming a great city where homeownership is increasingly out of reach for working families.
We also believe we are uniquely positioned, through our proposed STAR Bonds project, to help Lawrence do just that while placing less stress on the City’s budget and reducing pressure for future tax increases on its citizens.
Who Pays for the Required Infrastructure to Move West?
As you may have experienced while dodging orange cones on Highway K-10 west of town, the City is already spending over a million dollars from its municipal infrastructure budget, matched by a much larger investment from KDOT, to support commercial and residential growth west of Highway K-10.
But there is much more infrastructure the City is obligated to provide west of Highway K-10 that won’t be funded by KDOT. These obligations could require the City to issue utility revenue bonds, which are repaid through water and sewer rate increases paid by Lawrence residents and businesses.
For instance, according to the City of Lawrence Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), a multimillion-dollar water utility project designed to provide adequate water pressure and volume within Beacon Landing and areas farther west is planned to be financed through City utility revenue bonds.
The Lawrence City Commission recently approved consecutive average annual water and wastewater rate increases of approximately 7.9% for 2026 through 2028, aimed at generating approximately $6 million in additional annual utility revenue to help fund the City’s broader utility infrastructure and financial obligations.
Furthermore, another three-year rate plan beginning in 2029 may need to be considered to continue meeting the City’s infrastructure and debt obligations.
Is There a Better Way?
We at K-10 Development Group believe the City has a historic opportunity to allow the State of Kansas to help fund this growth through our proposed STAR Bonds project.
If approved in its present form, STAR Bonds could be used to fund infrastructure development within our district, including a large portion of City-obligated infrastructure: $6 million in Phase 1 and at least $18 million in Phase 2. Importantly, these are infrastructure projects that K-10 Development Group would not ordinarily be obligated to pay for.
The amazing part: the State of Kansas will match, at a very favorable multiple, the City of Lawrence when paying back the STAR Bonds used to pay for these City-obligated infrastructure projects. Eligible State and City incremental sales tax revenue repays these Phase 1 and Phase 2 STAR bonds. Since Kansas collects a 6.5% State sales tax on most taxable goods, compared with Lawrence’s 1% STAR Bonds-eligible City sales tax, that’s a 6.5-to-1 matching multiple ratio for most taxable goods sold within the district. For district businesses selling both groceries and State-taxable goods, our projections estimate a matching multiple of approximately 3.25 to 1. This is indeed a historic opportunity to reduce the stress on Lawrence’s budget.
Don’t Be Misled
The most mis-reported part of this historic opportunity is that, while the STAR Bonds being used to fund City tax-base growth are being repaid during our projected 13-year payback period, the City will give up all of the City sales tax charged within our district.
The fact is that the City will continue to receive 43.75% of all incremental City sales tax charged by all businesses within the STAR bonds district during the payback period.
We believe that once you see all of the facts during a Public Hearing, you will see that the City of Lawrence, starting from year 1, will be many millions of dollars ahead before the payback period is complete, versus no STAR Bonds project. More importantly, the City will be radically better off, both financially and in quality of life, each year after the STAR Bonds are paid off. Necessary housing will have been built, a large new retail tax base will be in place, many new jobs will exist, quality attractions will be enjoyed by both locals and new visitors to Lawrence, and infrastructure will be largely paid off that allows for future, controlled growth. This is all possible because:
The K-10 Development Group will provide millions of private matching funds to the City that is intended for non-infrastructure expenses in the first couple of years of our project, offsetting early losses before new construction is completed within the district;
Once sales taxes from new businesses within our district are being generated, 43.75% of those incremental sales taxes will be kept by the City during the projected 13-year payback period;
And, of course, the full 100% of sales tax revenue will flow to the City from all of our new businesses and attractions after the payback period is complete.
