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<br />M I N U T E S <br /> <br /> <br />Eugene City Council <br />Work Session <br />McNutt Room – City Hall <br />777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon <br /> <br /> April 8, 2009 <br /> 12:00 p.m. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Mike Clark, George Poling, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka (via <br />telephone), Jennifer Solomon, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz. <br /> <br />Ms. Piercy called the work session meeting of the Eugene City Council to order at 12:01 p.m. <br /> <br />A. WORK SESSION – FY10 Budget Strategies to Maintain Road Fund Service Levels <br /> <br />Public Works Director Kurt Corey presented information regarding the current status of the City’s Road Operations <br />Fund and proposed FY10 budget strategies to continue the City’s operations and maintenance (O&M) efforts. As <br />part of his presentation, Mr. Corey briefly described the nature of the City’s O&M concerns. Referring to his <br />statement from the agenda item summary materials submitted to the council, Mr. Corey noted that the Road Fund <br />was currently facing an annual deficit of approximately $4 million and was, absent of any intervention, in danger of <br />becoming insolvent by the fall of 2009. <br /> <br />Mr. Corey commented that the current O&M funding gap was the result of a multitude of factors including a 15% <br />reduction in revenues over the last five years and a 23% increase in the cost of providing services over the same <br />period of time. Mr. Corey noted that the state gas tax, which had historically been the primary funding source for <br />O&M funding, had been flat for more than 16 years and that the Lane County partnerships payments that had also <br />partially funded O&M efforts, had been exhausted. He further noted that the O&M reserve funds would essentially <br />be depleted in the current fiscal year and $4 million in ongoing new revenue would be required to stabilize the O&M <br />portion of the Road Fund, with $2.8 million in new revenue required to close the FY10 budget gap. <br /> <br />Mr. Corey recalled the input by the City Council during previous work sessions and noted that staff had been directed <br />to consider one-time solutions in order to address the FY10 budget gap, to consider new revenue sources to address <br />budget gaps beyond, and to avoid any service reductions to compensate for the current, and any future, Road Fund <br />O&M budget gaps. Mr. Corey proceeded to review the strategies suggested by the council in their previous work <br />session meetings as reflected in the agenda item summary materials. <br /> <br />Mr. Corey noted that while the previous staff recommendation had been for the City to implement a 10% surcharge <br />on solid waste hauler fees, the current recommendation to address the FY10 budget gap called for only a 5% <br />surcharge in addition to a one-time transfer of funds from available stormwater/wastewater funds and local gas tax <br />revenues. He added that the staff recommendation to address the budget gaps in the long-term would be to revisit the <br />transportation utility fee based upon parking spaces. <br /> <br />Mr. Corey briefly restated the rationales behind the recommended 5% garbage surcharge for the benefit of the council <br />and reminded them that a previous subcommittee had determined that there existed a clear nexus between solid waste <br />collection and the City’s transportation systems, and that a garbage surcharge would be consistent with similar <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 8, 2009 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />