CC Minutes - 11/21/07 Work Session

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Mr. Pryor indicated he was open to new ideas and agreed with Mr. Poling's suggestion that all the cities in Lane County advocate for a countywide solution. He was interested in the possibility of using facility reserve funds for streets and wanted to discuss that during the upcoming budget process. Mr. Zelenka remarked that the subcommittee had recommended asking the County to consider a vehicle registration fee and other options, as only the County had that legal authority. He was generally supportive of the street utility fee with parking as a proxy and the assessment of nonresidential properties was scaled appropriately. He liked the two-tier approach for the street lighting fee, but was not certain how an "opt out" provision would function. Mr. Corey said if the council wished to pursue an "opt out" provision, staff would develop a methodology for neighborhoods on local streets. Mr. Zelenka said that some neighborhoods were considering different types of lighting. He would support researching the feasibility of an internal billing system and was opposed to reconvening the subcommittee, although he welcomed any new ideas that Mr. Clark might want to offer. Ms. Taylor said she preferred to discuss funding options as a full council instead of at the committee level. She felt that pursuing a countywide solution was the best approach as most cities shared concerns with transportation system funding. She was not in favor of a lighting fee, which would be questioned by people who lived in areas without street lights. Mayor Piercy said further discussion of the backlog was important to building trust and it was necessary to begin the education process well in advance of putting a measure on the ballot. Ms. Bettman said the responsible approach was to continue to refine the fee options, which had broad-based support. She was in favor of placing a measure before the voters in May 2008 and the City had already done much work to educate the community about the problem. She said an important factor in the success of a ballot measure was the level of support from the council. She said that residential rates should be tiered and nonresidential rates should be based on the square footage of available parking, whether pervious or impervious, and the likely actual amount of parking spaces per that square footage, instead of a random diminished or reduced number, to avoid placing an unfair burden on residential customers. Mr. Clark did not think the gas tax failed because people did not like the tax; it failed, at least in part, because of the perception it was not fair. He said a new package was needed to achieve the council's goal. He was willing to consider refinements at another work session, but would not favor forwarding either fee to a public hearing until after the May 2008 election on the bond measure. Mr. Poling favored a flat rate for residential parking and was willing for staff to continue to refine the fee concepts. Regarding Ms. Taylor's comments regarding questions about a lighting fee from people who lived on dark streets, Ms. Solomon said that was exactly what she was hearing from constituents who paid taxes but lived on streets that were deteriorating. She remarked that taxes were originally intended to fund essential services like police, fire and roads and over time many other things had been added to the City's budget; however, people still expected that their taxes would pay for roads. She would be interested, for that reason, in pursuing a General Fund option for streets. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 21, 2007 Page 5 Work Session