01/11/1982 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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- The cutbacks and cliff-hanger reorganizations we saw with the CETA Program as a result of Federal changes are yet another inducement for the City Manager and Budget Committee to confine our use of Federal revenue sharing money to capital projects so that Eugene will not depend on that two-plus million dollars in revenue sharing for day-to-day operations. 11m glad to see our budget staff is moving us in that direction. In addition to facing financing needs for our own projects, we're going to find that recipients of aid from Federally funded social programs and groups promoting projects paid for through special Federal grants will be more and more frequently looking to us for assistance. Not planning for ways to meet these needs and fund the capital projects that are going to prepare this community to thrive in the next century reminds me of Lloyd George's comment that lIit's risky to leap a chasm in two bounds.1I We can no longer take one step and let the Federal government cover the rest of the distance. We have got to plan to cover the costs of keeping this city running both now and in the future. With reduced Federal taxes and promised reductions in Federal spending, there's a chance that those tax dollars might be returned to state and local governments. Only history will tell us that. For now, we have got to pursue our community's goals with a clear understanding of what will happen if those tax dollars donlt return. In spite of the gloomy picture that has been painted of 1981, we did make some significant steps forward here in Eugene: e We adopted an economic diversification plan that is helping us to find the role that government should play in relation to the role of private business in putting Eugeneans to work and bolstering our economy. It sets up projects that the City can do to make the community attractive to incoming or expanding businesses, and it defines ways the City will cooperate with or help existing local businessess to grow, keeping in mind that private business, not government, must lead our recovery effort. As I look back, our recent economic diversification efforts actually started in 1978 with the passage of the bond issue to build the Performing Arts Center. Now that the project is headed toward completion, we anticipate that 80 percent of the forty-six million dollars generated by the total project will remain in this community. Thatls a little under thirty-seven million dollars. So far, the project has created almost 300 construction-related jobs, and the Hilton has just hired some 225 personnel to run the hotel that opened this past weekend. Another turning point for us in 1981 was reaching agreement with Springfield and Lane County on the Metropolitan Plan which updates the first Metro Plan adopted 10 years ago. As we move toward the 21st century, this plan will give us a solid basis for making decisions about residential, commercial, and industrial land use needs. At this point, I should mention that weill be meeting tomorrow to finalize the process for how we will proceed from here. The cities concur that there seems to be some conflict with Lane County. It is important that the plan be adopted e MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 11, 1982 Page 3