09/30/1987 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Miller said that instead of simply stating that a particular item is a basic servicet the council should indicate what level of service is considered e basic. Ms. Schue said she was not sure how much the council should focus on service levels. She said the question is not what service levels the City would like to providet but what services it can afford to provide. Mayor Obie said he thought the council could reach a consensus on what the basic services are. He said that over the yearst the City's budget has acquired many additional itemst all of which have constituencies. Mr. Holmer said that if councilors are allowed to cast an unlimited number of "yes" votes duri ng the process t they probably wi 11 generate an unlimited budget. He suggested that some procedural device be used--e.g't a limit on the number of "yes" votes that each counci lor may cast--to force counci lors to discipline themselves and to make actual choices. Mayor Obie agreed. Ms. Wooten said the processt as discussed so far by the council, would not take into account new ideas or programatic changes the council might develop in its goals sessiont and would not allow any flexibility because it would only deal with service levels of existing programs. She suggested that the process be held aftert or as part oft the council's goals session. Mayor Obie agreed. Ms. Wooten also said the council should consider not only the expenditure side of the City's budgett but also the revenue side. e Mayor Obie said he thinks the community is about at its limit in terms of additional City revenue. He said it may be possible to generate some revenue with user fees; howevert he did not think the community will accept any significant tax increases. Ms. Ehrman said that after the council goes through the process of establishing financial prioritiest it should solicit feedback from the public. Mr. Gleason made the following suggestion: go through the priority-setting process as an exercise; evaluate this process and hold the goals session; then, go through the priority-setting process a second time as a decision- making mechanism. He said that sometimes with processes like theset decision- makers spend a lot of time guessing about the mechanics of the process and trying to predict the outcome rather than focusing on the policy choices. He said that going through the process as an exercise will familiarize councilors with the mechanics; after thist councilors will be able to focus on actual policy choices and compromisest rather than worrying about what accidental compromises might result from the process mechanics. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 3D, 1987 Page 3