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Eugene City Council <br />McNutt Room - --pity Hall 777 Pearl Street <br />Eugene, Oregon <br />March S, 2010 <br />5:30 p.m. <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Mike Clark, Andrea Ortiz, Jennifer Solomon, Chris Pryor, George Poling, <br />George Brown, Alan Zelenka, Betty Taylor. <br />Her Honor Mayor Ditty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. She <br />adjourned the Eugene City Council meeting and convened a meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal <br />Agency. <br />A. WORK SESSION: <br />Downtown Financing Strategy <br />Agency Director Jon Ruiz said the agency was being asked to initiate the process for reviewing changes to <br />the downtown urban renewal district and the agency's action would not be binding. He said the <br />discussion of financing and strategies represented a multi- pronged approach to fostering a vibrant <br />downtown, boosting the local economy and creating jobs. <br />Finance Director Sue Cutsogeorge reviewed the direction to staff to examine funding options for four <br />projects: Lane Community College (LCC), Veterans' Administration (VA) clinic, Farmers' Market and <br />downtown safety. She said the agenda packet included extensive information on the following funding <br />options: <br />• Existing resources <br />• General obligation bond <br />• Local option levy <br />• Downtown urban renewal <br />Ms. Cutsogeorge used a slide presentation to highlight the costs associated with the projects and funding <br />strategies. She noted that in each scenario the City would have to borrow money to pay for some of the <br />projects and interest on that debt was included in project costs. Total administration through FY09 is $1.2 <br />million. Debt issuance costs are about $150,000 for each kind of debt issued. The interest amount on new <br />debt varied among the funding packages; legal costs are estimated at $150,000, and administrative costs <br />were estimated at $150,000 annually through FYI 3 when construction is complete, and then would drop. <br />She identified the one -time funds that would be available to taxing districts if tax increment collections <br />ceased, as well as the ongoing funds. She said that staff was researching whether the funds available to <br />Eugene School District 4J would be an actual increase to revenue or an offset to State school funding. <br />She estimated that the average taxpayer's bill would decrease by $1.66. She said local schools would <br />receive about $31,000 in ongoing funding and other schools throughout the state would receive $629,000. <br />The impact of Measure 5 on District 4J's local option levy was unknown. <br />MINUTES Eugene City Council March H, 2010 Page 1 <br />Work Session <br />