Resolution No. 4932 - Laserfiche WebLink

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RESOLUTION NO. 4932 A RESOLUTION CALLING A CITY ELECTION ON MAY 20, 2008, FOR THE PURPOSE OF REFERRING TO THE LEGAL ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF EUGENE, IF THE REQUISITE SIGNATURES WERE OBTAINED ON THE REFERENDUM PETITION, ORDINANCE NO. 20401 AMENDING SECTION 3 OF ORDINANCE NO. 20337, TO EXTEND THE SUNSET OF $0.02 PER GALLON OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE FUEL DEALER'S BUSINESS LICENSE TAX UNTIL FEBRUARY 28, 2011. The City Council of the City of Eugene finds as follows: A. Based on a recommendation from the Citizens' Subcommittee on Transportation System Funding, the City enacted its first motor vehicle fuel tax at three cents per gallon in January 2003 and began collecting the tax in August 2003, which has generated approximately $2 million per year from that original three-cent tax. The Committee recommended a combination of the motor vehicle fuel tax and a transportation system maintenance fee in order to generate approximately $9 million annually to address the City's critical transportation system funding needs. Although the transportation system maintenance fee, designed to generate $6.5 to $7 million annually, was adopted, it was repealed before it could be fully implemented. B. In January 2005, the City Council enacted Ordinance No. 20337 approving a two- cent increase to the motor vehicle fuel tax from three to five cents per gallon. Section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337 contained a sunset provision with respect to the two-cent increase which would cause the tax to revert to three cents per gallon on February 29,2008. C. In adopting the sunset provision, the City Council anticipated that three years would allow sufficient time to complete a comprehensive review of available funding options and to develop a stable funding strategy to meet the City's transportation system needs D. Although nearly $14 million of street preservation work has been completed utilizing the revenue generated by the motor vehicle fuel tax, the backlog of needed repair work continues to grow. By early 2007 the estimated cost of that backlog of repairs had grown to nearly $170 million, and without new funding, was projected to grow to more than $280 million within the next 10 years. E. In early 2007 a Council subcommittee studied the City's transportation funding needs and options and submitted a report in May 2007 with recommendations to increase the local motor vehicle fuel tax by three cents per gallon (generating an additional $2 million annually) to eights cents per gallon and to repeal the sunset provision. This increase in the fuel tax rate, together with the other revenue options in the funding package recommended by the subcommittee, was projected to generate nearly $16 million per year to address the projected Resolution - Page 1 of 3