CC Minutes - 11/16/05 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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November 2006 ballot, but Bethel School District was considering a local option levy in May 2006. He added it was conceivable that if the measure passed in May but there was no double majority, the district could bring the measure back in November. Mr. Carlson said the Eugene School District 4-J was considering taking a levy for General Obligation School Construction Bonds to the voters in 2008. Mr. Carlson confirmed that the proposed library levy would be the second renewal of the levy. Mr. Papé expressed frustration with the need for ongoing serial levies to provide basic services. He asked for a strategy on funding the library at its current level without a bond measure. Mr. Carlson replied that the basic strategy without a bond measure would be to reduce services elsewhere in the organization. He stated that the Multi-Year Financial Plan included $700,000 in the FY08 budget plan to begin to reduce the amount taken from the local option levy. Currently, the local option levy paid for almost one half of library services. Mr. Papé expressed a desire to develop options, including cutting other services, to fund the library through the General Fund operating budget. Mr. Carlson said other funding strategies, including special districts and alternative revenue sources, had been discussed in the past, but those strategies had been rejected. The alternatives under current council direction would be to reduce other services. Mr. Papé maintained the council had not been diligent in spending the money from the last PROS levy. He did not want to prejudice the needs and community effort by waiting until 2008 to put another levy on the ballot. Ms. Ortiz, as a former school board member, supported school funding. Through her experience, she learned that many operating bonds approved in the past were about equity, giving schools the ability to offer programs outside of the regular teaching day for the students who may not otherwise have access to other avenues of enrichment experiences. She expressed doubt that the State would adequately take care of all of the education issues in the next two to four years. Therefore, she would support anything to do with schools. Furthermore, she would listen carefully to conversations about other funding issues as they arose. Mr. Pryor noted that serial levies differed from bond measures in that they had different mechanisms and needs and could be used for different purposes. He said Mr. Papé raised an interesting point, in terms of how diligent an organization was in realizing revenue from its sources, such as selling excess property. He said during his tenure as a school board member, the Eugene School District 4-J did designate surplus property, and had sold some of those properties. Mr. Pryor confirmed that money from the sale of properties was used for capital expenditures rather than operating expenses. He added the levy the council was considering was a Youth/School-Based Services operating levy. Mr. Pryor agreed that the need to fund ongoing operating requirements needed to be a continuing conversa- tion by the council. He said if the levy was necessary to continue to fund current services, he would want to ensure that due diligence within the organization had been done before proceeding with the levy request. Based upon his work with staff, Mr. Pryor said he believed that it was reasonable and prudent for staff to suggest slowing down somewhat on the PROS levy. There were still many unanswered questions in the community before the necessary level of comfort was achieved. Mr. Pryor said people needed an opportu- nity to evaluate and comment on the plan. He expressed concern that moving too fast to get a levy on the ballot would hurt a good plan. He fully supported the plan, while at the same time, he fully supported doing it at a speed where it could be effectively implemented. Thus, Mr. Pryor said, 2008 was the earliest the council should go forward to the voters with a levy. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 16, 2005 Page 3 Work Session