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<br />- Mr. Bennett said he favors reviewing the mission statement of the General <br /> Fund as a starting point. He did not feel he was ready to begin a line-item <br /> scrutiny of the budget. <br /> Mayor Obie felt the document is thorough and well thought out. He also felt <br /> the council needs to discuss what type of city Eugene should be. He said he <br /> realizes, however, that there is not enough money to make Eugene the type of <br /> city the council wants. Mayor Obie felt it would be wise to discuss the <br /> funding policies and objectives with this in mind. <br /> Ms. Schue said she was not happy with last year1s efforts to deal with the <br /> budget because of the lack of specific information. She felt it was hard to <br /> know if the money allocated would provide the amount of services the council <br /> intended it to and whether one service was more important than another. Ms. <br /> Schue said she likes this approach, and feels it will be valuable for the <br /> council to decide what it feels is a reasonable level of service, as well as <br /> which services are most and least important. <br /> Mr. Boles felt the suggested approach is reasonable. He said in the long <br /> term, the council must address the question of which City-provided services <br /> "are truly critical. Mr. Boles felt it would be helpful to have input from <br /> the public about which services are most critical and what a basic service <br /> 1 eve 1 is. <br /> Mr. Bennett felt it would be pragmatic to see a report on the effect on <br />e current General Fund programs if no solution to the revenue shortfall could <br /> be found. He felt it would be useful for the council to get a realistic idea <br /> of how the City would operate under the worst-case scenario. This would also <br /> give the council an idea of how much of the General Fund problem could be <br /> solved through user fee mitigations and service transfers. Mr. Bennett felt <br /> this would be a very different discussion for the council, because previous <br /> discussions have started with the premise that service reductions would <br /> occur. <br /> Mayor Obie asked council members what items they would like to see supported <br /> by the General Fund. Mr. Holmer suggested economic development. Mayor Obie <br /> feels health, safety, and maybe welfare are priorities. He said he was <br /> uncertain what welfare would include. <br /> Ms. Schue said a major factor in deciding which services are not financed <br /> through the General Fund should be which services have a potential for <br /> generating their own revenue and which do not. She felt it would be best to <br /> identify the services this way, rather than attempting to identify the most <br /> critical services. Mayor Obie pointed out that the expense of providing a <br /> service should be considered as carefully as the income generated by that <br /> service. <br /> Mayor Obie felt items financed through the General Fund should be impervious <br /> to political shifts. He feels the fundamental services include public <br /> safety, police, fire, courts, and streets. Mr. Bennett pointed out that all <br />e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 20, 1988 Page 3 <br />