Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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prosecutor could begin to do some things at the City level that could potentially reduce the load on the County. He reiterated his request for information on what the City could buy in terms of jail beds and assimilating officers from the LCSO. City Manager pro tem Jones pointed out that City staff had been having some of those conversations with the County in an effort to explore how they could do things differently and creatively. She underscored that she did not want to send a message that the City of Eugene had ample resources to address the holes in the County budget. She said the City was not too far from the County and would have to look at how it would reshuffle the services it provided in a couple more years. Ms. Taylor asked if the County would consider changing its policy of approving Enterprise Zones and urban renewal districts in the face of the looming shortfall. Mr. Stewart replied that it was highly likely that if another one of those mechanisms came before the County it would be considered differently. He stressed that the County was a cooperator with its fellow jurisdictions and cities came to them proposing the development tool. Ms. Taylor did not perceive the county payments as a gift, rather she considered it an entitlement. She noted that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had voiced that same opinion. She asked how much of Lane County was federal land and generated no tax revenue. Mr. Stewart responded that 54 percent of Lane County was federally owned. Ms. Bettman accepted the fact that the County was facing a crisis. She wanted to find long-term solutions. She noted the failure of recent County revenue measures. She opined that she had seen a lot of expenditures on the part of the County that she questioned. She related that there had been over 900 appeals to property taxes and 300 of them had been granted, which was a net reduction in revenue. She felt the people collecting the appeals were getting an “astronomical amount of interest” on the tax money. She averred that this was a waste of money. In terms of SDCs, she reiterated that SDCs provide a funding source for new transporta- tion needs or parks. She declared that utilizing SDCs meant the money for such projects was not coming out of other funds. She also questioned the resolution the County was considering that would take on permitting and code enforcement in the urban transition area as she felt it would be an additional service for the County to provide that would cost the County money. Regarding the latter, Mr. Stewart clarified for Ms. Bettman that the Land Management Division was solely fee-based and the citizens applying for zoning changes and building permits, and other actions, would pay the cost to do so. He acknowledged concerns expressed by citizens regarding a potential adjustment in that agreement, adding that he would not say the County was ready to move on the matter. Mr. Zelenka asked if alternative funding sources for human services had been looked into. Mr. Stewart replied that they had not considered this at the board level but he had worked with Executive Director for the Department of Human Services, Steve Manela, on the possibility of a levy to help pay for the human services portion of the budget. Mr. Zelenka commented that he would support such a levy. Mr. Stewart said when facing a crisis one does what one can. He stressed that the income tax measure that had been posed had been based on the critical need to provide essential services. He had wanted to fix the whole problem at one time. He stressed that if the cuts came, the County would have to suffer because there would not be a “miracle fix” for it. He predicted that what would happen was that the County would assess whether there would be any help from the State and then how to move forward from there. He thought they would continue to work through the federal government with our congressional leaders to get the payment MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 9, 2008 Page 9 Work Session