Can large pile of cash reduce Lawrence’s proposed water rate increases? City is unsure

While water rates are set to go up 8% next year, the city is sitting on a huge pile of cash in its utility fund.

How much cash? So much that city officials aren’t entirely sure where it all came from.

A review of financial documents by the Journal-World found that the city’s water/sewer fund is projected to end 2019 with nearly $42 million in reserves. To put that in perspective, for every $1 that the water/sewer fund spends in 2019, it has an additional 84 cents sitting in a type of savings account known as a fund balance.

“That is a lot,” said Dave Wagner, who oversees the utility department as the city’s director of Municipal Services and Operations.