04/22/1992 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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~ Responding to a question from Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Boles said that no citizen, through round 2, has actually balanced the budget through service reductions. However, pretesting indicates people want that option. The strategy the community will be given would mirror council policy, but respondents could reorder the elements of the strategy; for example, a citizen might choose to reduce public safety. Mr. Nicholson argued that citizens would reject all the strategies and demand salary reductions and elimination of middle management positions. He believed that people would think the strategies were an "evasion of the real issue." Mr. Boles asked Mr. Nicholson how he would respond to that reaction. Mr. Nicholson said that the council had erred in not dealing with those issues. Due to a lack of time, Mr. Miller asked councilors to postpone discussion on the issue until the following Wednesday. He added that the perception that the council has not addressed the issue is incorrect. Mr. MacDonald stressed the importance of reinforcing the steps already taken to address organizational efficiences. Mr. Weeks said his pretesting indicated a continued public preoccupation with employee compensation and a perception of excessive administrative staff. Mr. Robinette spoke of the importance of community input into the process. However, he said he vacilated between wanting to know what the community would support in terms of somewhat severe cuts and the fear that the community would charge the council with having already made a decision or with providing a scenario that provided no options outside additional taxes. He supported Mr. Boles' suggestion for a Strategy C. ~ Mr. Robinette said that Strategy A is not actually a strategy package with a minimal impact on revenues. He said that the council should determine the actual themes for the strategy packages, re-examine the packages to ensure that they reflect the themes, or add a Strategy C as suggested by Mr. Boles to create more distinct choices. Mr. Boles said that it appeared to him that the council was heading toward creation of three strategies. Strategy A, minimal impact on revenues, may not include enough reductions to satisfy some council members. However, Mr. Boles pointed out the reductions in the strategy were those six councilors could agree upon and support. Strategy B was the type of community the council would like to see with adequate funding. He suggested that involved fewer reductions in service and enhancements such as the library. Mr. Boles said that Strategy C was a budget balanced solely through service reductions. Mr. Gleason suggested that Strategy C, alternatively, could maximize all the approaches for "doing things differently" and then include service reductions to balance the budget. He added that such a scenario was about $1.5 million different from a pure reduction strategy. Mr. Gleason said that if Strategy C was a reduction strategy, it should reflect the direction from the surveys. He suggested that the result of a strategy incorporating reductions and e MINUTES--Eugene City Council 11:30 a.m. April 22, 1992 Page 3