Item A: GO Bond for Street Preservation

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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Work Session: General Obligation Bonds for Street Preservation Projects Meeting Date: July 16, 2008 Agenda Item Number: A Department: Central Services Staff Contact: Sue Cutsogeorge www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 682-5589 ISSUE STATEMENT This work session is a continuation of the discussion about funding for pavement capital preservation projects with a General Obligation (GO) bond measure. The council is asked to provide direction for development of a resolution to place a GO bond measure on the ballot in November 2008. BACKGROUND Council Action History Over the past several years, the council has worked on ways to adequately fund a large and growing pavement preservation project backlog. Some highlights from the history of this effort are included in Attachment A. Most recently, on June 9, the council continued discussions about using General Obligation bonds for street preservation projects. At that meeting, the council directed the City Manager to bring back a resolution placing an $81.1 million GO bond measure on the November 2008 ballot, consistent with the initial project list and the draft resolution provided at that meeting. There remained, however, significant questions about how to provide assurance to voters as to which specific street repair projects would be accomplished as a result of approval of the bonds, what the appropriate timing of the bond measure should be, and how citizens will be informed about the need for the bond measure. On June 23, the council discussed street assessment policies. At that meeting, several councilors requested information about including an element in this bond measure to fund the City’s share of assessment project costs. As reported previously, the City Manager has convened a Street Maintenance Task Force. The list of members on this task force is included as Attachment B. The task force has met three times and is scheduled to meet three more times. As part of this effort, an updated community survey will be con- ducted during early July. The results will be provided to the council later this month. The group has focused on trying to reach consensus among the broad range of interests represented on the task force for a recommended package of solutions that would provide approximately $15 million of additional funding per year for street repairs in Eugene. At this time, the package under discussion includes the GO bond measure, reallocation of General Fund resources, a county-wide vehicle registration fee and some form of a monthly charge that would be collected through the City’s utility billings. Project List There are two main policy choices before the council around a bond measure project list: (1) determining a method for providing assurance to voters as to which specific street repair projects will be Z:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080716\S080716A.doc