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- e - that all of the room tax allocation be devoted to the Hult Center shortfall and that the City eliminate its contributions of $37,500 to the cultural and recreational activities and the $68,000 to the five major performing arts groups. She stated that she preferred to maintain the cultural and leisure portion of the room tax due to the importance of those activities to the community. She did not feel that shifting the room tax allocations away from the major groups on an incremental basis as the endowments increased meant that the City was shirking its responsibility to those groups; rather, that the responsibility could be addressed through a residency program. Mr. Obie stated that the task force had studied financial statements from the performing groups and felt that a dramatic shift in financing would have a crippling effect on the groups. He stated that any transition should occur on a systematic and planned basis. Ms. Wooten added that the task force hoped that the Eugene Arts Foundation would assume a larger portion of the alloca- tions to the performing groups and maintain its ongoing commitments to the groups. C. Item 3: Residency Status Councilor Obie stated that this recommendation would impact both the Hult Center and the performing arts groups and must be resolved. D. Item 4: EAF Contribution Councilor Wooten stated that the task force had realized that the City could not rely on the $125,000 contribution from the EAF for operating expenses. She hoped that the EAF would continue its capital-side support to the center and the arts groups. She said she was hesitant to take the $477,000 from the General Funds. Referring to a discussion with the City Manager, she believed that these funds would not be taken from any operating or online program. Mr. Hansen said the task force was not recommending from where the funds would be taken, stating that the issue will be addressed by the Budget Committee and the City Council. Ms. Wooten stated that the task force was assuming that other recommendations of the Grant study would be incorporated to make the center more accessible to the residents of Eugene. E. Item 5: Proposed Tax Package Councilor Obie stressed that the proposed tax package would attempt to address all the City's financial problems. He said this program followed the line of thinking from the Grant study. Ms. Wooten stated that the task force realized it was impossible to deal with the Hult Center shortfall on its own. Due to the expiration of the Eugene Plan in the near future, she stated that the council wished to maintain a particular level of services to the city without placing a greater burden on the property owners. She said the objective was to develop a tax package so that the Hult Center shortfall could be accommo- dated in the regular operational City budget. Without a new income stream, some programs would have to be cut. Mr. Hansen commented that the issue was not as clearly discussed as others. He felt that the task force would be reconvened to study the overall funding of the Hult Center if the new tax package were not developed. He added that other revenue opportunities did exist and that any new revenue source would not be used solely to address MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 2, 1984 Page 2