Item 3: Resolution on GO Bond for Streets

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limit bond spending to only those projects on the list. If the list were illustrative, but not binding, this would not be an issue. The only methods to take projects off the list are either to create a process or develop objective criteria. If objective criteria could be developed that were comprehensive enough to cover every potential future situation, then there could be an “automatic” deletion of projects from the list. Because the criteria would have to be developed to cover situations that are not known today, however, it is unlikely that any set of criteria developed today would be the specific criteria needed to cover an actual future situation. Therefore, it is much more practical to specify a process to allow for deletions from the project list under appropriate circumstances. That is what is proposed for the $81.1 million bond measure. This proposal is just one potential process that could be used, and the council could develop another process if desired. As was discussed at the July 16 council meeting, the choice between an $81.1 million and a $35.9 million bond measure is a difficult one and there are many factors to consider. Some of the factors mentioned at the meeting were: building trust with the voters; the current economic climate; the time and effort required to place a measure on the ballot and campaign for it; the effort to educate citizens about the issues and this specific measure; the results of recent surveys; and the need to solve the street preservation and maintenance funding issue as soon as possible. Weighing all those factors, as well as information from the Street Maintenance Task Force and from the recent survey, staff recommends that a $35.9 million bond measure for five years of projects be placed on the November 2008 ballot. Communications Plan Attachment I contains a revised communications plan, based on comments from the July 16 meeting and other edits. As mentioned earlier, this is a dynamic document that will be updated as circumstances change. Questions from July 16 Meeting A question was asked about survey results that might provide information to assist the council in determining the impact of bond measure size on voter approval of a measure. As part of the City Manager’s Street Maintenance Task Force work, a survey was conducted on various financing mechanisms to pay for street maintenance. The survey results will be presented at a work session on July 28. Three other surveys have been conducted by the City in the past two years. The street funding survey prepared in January 2008 asked two questions about a property tax measure for street repairs: ? Would you be willing to pay an additional $110 per year in property taxes to go toward repairing Eugene's streets? Yes – 56.33% Don’t Know – 4.47% No – 38.96% No Answer – 0.25% ? Question asked of only those people who said NO, DON’T KNOW, or NO ANSWER to the previous question: Would you be willing to pay an additional $90 per year in property taxes to go toward repairing Eugene's streets? (Percentages are of the entire survey population, not just the people that said NO, DON’T KNOW or NO ANSWER to the first question.) Yes – 5.96% Don’t Know – 2.48% No – 34.49% No Answer – 0.74% Adding the results of the two questions together, 62% of those surveyed said they would be willing to support a property tax measure for street repairs that cost the average taxpayer $90 per year. Z:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080728\S0807283andattA.doc