CC Minutes - 05/22/06 Work Session

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between the request and timing of the council’s decision to place a local option levy on the ballot to present such a plan. He said that based on the council’s direction during the past year, staff proceeded on the assumption that renewal of the levy would be recommended to the voters. Mr. Papé asked what the last possible date was for referring the levy to the voters. City Manager Taylor said it was the council’s last meeting before its break in early August. Mr. Papé, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to table the matter until the council’s last meeting in July 2006 in order to obtain more information on a plan to integrate library op- erations into the budget. Ms. Ortiz commented that action in July left little time to mount a campaign for a successful levy election. Mr. Kelly echoed Ms. Ortiz’s concern and said that the intended amendment by Ms. Bettman, which was distributed to the council, might address Mr. Papé’s concerns about a plan to transfer library services to the budget over the levy’s four-year period. Ms. Bettman also agreed with Ms. Ortiz regarding timing and said that her amendment would require transfer of library services to the City’s General Fund over a four-year period and embed that intent in the resolution and levy language. Mr. Papé did not feel that waiting until July to take action would jeopardize the success of the levy as it was no surprise to the voters that a third library local option levy was being put forward. The motion to table failed, 2:6; Mr. Papé and Ms. Solomon voting in favor. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Papé, moved that recital C be amended and a new recital D be added to the resolution to read: C. On May 22, 2006, the City Council agreed that a four-year Local Option Levy of $2,687,500 per year should be placed on the November 7, 2006 ballot. The proposed levy would renew a part of the Library Local Option Levy currently on the tax bills of Eugene taxpayers in order to continue current library services. The median Eugene taxpayer will pay an average of $35 per year over the four year period of the levy. D. It is the intention of the City Council that library services will be transferred from the Library Local Option Levy to the General Fund over the four-year period of this Local Option Levy. By FY12, library operations will be entirely funded in the City’s General Fund. and that Section 1 be amended by deleting “$.041 per $1,000 of assessed value” and in- serting “$2,687,500 per year.” Speaking to the motion, Ms. Bettman said the library was an outstanding asset, the services it provided were excellent, and there was great community support for it. She believed that continuing to rely on levies to fund library ongoing services placed the library and those services at risk. She said the issues were thoroughly discussed during the budget process and a majority of Budget Committee members agreed with the City’s stated and adopted financial policy that ongoing services should not be funded through a levy, but MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 22, 2006 Page 7 Work Session