CC Minutes - 04/09/08 Work Session

Home Browse Search

asset just to pay an operating expense. He said they were definitely discussing the concept of selling an asset to pay down a liability, which would lower operating costs. He stated that commissioners had given direction to administrative staff that if a payment was received after the fact, with the cuts already made, to consider whether money should be applied to pay down long-term debt with the goal of stabilizing the organization in the long-term. Mr. Pryor acknowledged that the sale of an asset, such as the fair grounds, would not solve the long-term issue that the loss of the timber money presented. He understood the County was not just facing a “hump,” rather what was ahead was a “plateau that would go on for a long time.” He also understood that Washington, D.C. could not be counted on. He observed that the discussion of SDCs should acknowledge that they could only be used for new capacity and could not be utilized to preserve existing programs. He did not know what ability the County would have to preserve what was in place with SDCs. Mr. Stewart affirmed that the constraints on SDCs were the same for the County as they were for the City. He stated that it would not be an area that could solve the operating deficiency without a legislative change. Mr. Stewart related that in the conversations he had in Washington, D.C. it had been made clear to him that the program would go away, that it had never been intended as a long-term solution to the funding issue. He said it was stressed to him that if an extension was granted it would be short-term. He reiterated that if they did receive the payment, they had to consider whether it would be more prudent to pay down the operating expenses to bring the County to a level where instead of continuing to make cuts, the organization could be stabilized. Mr. Clark commented that a lot of people had known “this day of reckoning” was coming. He averred that the only responsible thing to do would be to begin to look at this in creative, innovative ways. He felt the people had spoken clearly on potential revenue increases to the County and he did not believe this was an open question anymore. He wanted to focus on ways the City could help the County. He related that the DA’s office had indicated it needed 32 staff members for its typical case load, which was why they had ceased to prosecute many crimes. He asked whether the DA had given an indication of which things they would have to stop prosecuting with the further staff reduction of seven positions. Mr. Stewart replied that the Board had not received this input from the DA at this time. Mr. Clark encouraged the council and staff to begin conversations about the sorts of things the City could take over in terms of prosecution. He related that the Human Right Commission (HRC) had held a scoping conversation on hate crimes and potential changes to the city code. He said out of this conversation had arisen the idea that if the City duplicated some of the state level statutes regarding hate crimes, its 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. Ms. 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 MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 9, 2008 Page 9 Work Session