CC Minutes - 08/08/07 Work Session

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Mr. Zelenka said he hoped the message to voters was that they were being asked to vote on one piece of a larger funding package. He said it was important for the public to understand that most Oregon cities were facing a road fund deficit and local jurisdictions would need to develop their own solutions. Mr. Clark expressed concern that referring the funding package components separately to the voters would result in people thinking that the initial component had fixed the problem and rejecting subsequent measures. He liked the concept of repealing the $.03 increase if a countywide tax was passed as a way to guarantee to the public that the council was not looking at a number of ways to increase taxes. He had heard that the gas dealers association and the Chamber of Commerce were in favor of a countywide gas tax. He said that Representative Nancy Nathanson raised the potential of a metropolitan area-only gas tax, perhaps bounded by schools districts and eliminating the rural areas. Mr. Poling commented that even though the State doubled registration fees, Oregon was still 45th in the nation in terms of its fees. He suggested that the County could be asked to calculate what revenues could be generated from various levels of a countywide registration fee. Mayor Piercy said the County was reluctant to enact a funding mechanism after its recent experiences with the voters. Ms. Bettman said she would not support including caveats in the ballot measure. She said there was no assurance that funds raised by the County would be dedicated to maintenance and preservation and she knew the County preferred to use the funds for other purposes, such as new roads. She said it was unknown what the County would establish as a tax rate and how that would be distributed to cities and, therefore, she was uncertain if Eugene would receive enough to be held harmless. Mr. Klein said he was not certain what the term "hold harmless" meant in terms of including that reference in the $.03 gas tax ballot measure. He could attempt to include ballot measure language that would indicated if the County enacted a $.03 tax that applied to the City of Eugene, the City would get all of that revenue generated from gas stations within Eugene. He pointed out that the council already had the authority to change the $.03 tax, whether enacted by the voters or the council, and that was the simplest approach instead of trying to craft ordinance language to reflect those provisions. Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to extend the discussion by 10 minutes. The mo- tion to extend passed unanimously, 8:0. Mr. Klein determined there were no objections to taking action on the ordinance the following week. Public Works Director Kurt Corey reminded the council that the short amount of time before a November election meant the council and mayor would need to be active participants in advocating for passage of a ballot measure. Mr. Zelenka asked if ballot measure language could indicate that the City's tax would be reduced propor- tionately if the County enacted a tax at a certain level. Mr. Klein said he would attempt to do so. Mr. Zelenka said the transportation subcommittee directed staff to discuss other funding options with the County and other jurisdictions, including a vehicle registration fee and rental car fee. MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 8, 2007 Page 4 Work Session