CC Minutes - 04/09/08 Work Session

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B. WORK SESSION: Lane County Budget Issues Mayor Piercy welcomed Faye Stewart, Chair of the Lane Board of County Commissioners, to the table and expressed the council’s appreciation for his willingness to join them. Ms. Jones explained that Mr. Stewart was present as a follow-up to the request for a report on the county budget made by the City Council at the Joint Elected Officials meeting held on February 12. Mr. Stewart thanked the council for the opportunity. He noted that he had provided hard copies of the information to the councilors and ascertained they had received them. He said the Board had asked staff to prepare three budgets, one with renewal of the “Save Our Rural Schools” funding which would hold services at the current level, one that averaged the drawdown that would happen over the course of three years that was included in the proposed Wyden-DeFazio four-year extension of the act, and one that addressed a $50 million loss to the budget. He explained that the money was specified so that approximately $20 million went into the General Fund budget, comprising approximately one-third of that budget, and the remainder was allocated to the Public Works Department for road funds. He stated that the latter was mandated to be spent on the transportation system. Mr. Stewart reported that during the United Front lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., also attended by Mayor Piercy and Ms. Taylor, he met with Senator Reid’s office and also with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. He had heard from both of them that they were not certain of the timeline for reauthorization of the funding or if it would be reauthorized at all. He related that concern had been expressed in the Speaker’s office regarding how long the need for this funding would continue, given that the act had been designed to be a transition from the timber harvest payments to something else. He stated that on the senate side there was not a level of support in the Senate to attach the funding to any type of bill or pass it if it was included in a bill. He said since his trip it looked like the only vehicle that could help the County prior to July 1 was the supplemental war funding, which was being worked on by both houses. The County had not heard confirmation that the funding would be proposed to be renewed as part of that budget, but the commissioners had been encouraged with recent news that the House of Representatives bill could include a one-year extension of the payments and the Senate bill could include the proposal for the four-year drawdown level of funding. He stressed that it was already April 9 and there was no bill moving forward at this time. He noted that at this same time last year the bill was in the house and had been voted on, though the President vetoed it. Mr. Stewart stated that the County was required to have a balanced budget by July 1 and because no funding was imminent they were forced to prepare to downsize the county services. He provided a report on the potential ramifications. He related that because Lane County had $37 million in reserves for the Public Works Department transportation funds the County would be able to keep those funds whole for three years. He added that in the 2007 session of the State legislature Lane County had been able to gain $9.9 million in road funds. He said they were optimistic that in the 2009 legislative session the County would be able to gain more relief for road funds. Continuing, Mr. Stewart reported that there were no reserve funds that could accommodate the loss to the General Fund and it would have to downsize. He explained that approximately 67 percent of the General Fund went into the public safety system, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), the District Attorney (DA), Department of Youth Services (DYS) and associated programs. He said the remainder of the money went into the reserve fund at a level of 10 percent of the General Fund balance in order to keep the bond MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 9, 2008 Page 5 Work Session