01/21/1986 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e Ms. Wooten said the council needs to be vigilant about expenditures and what is expected from citizens. She is interested in pursuing new sources of revenue. She is concerned about user fees, but she will consider them to fill the gap between revenues and expenditures. She said sometimes user fees are appropriate, but the council should be careful about them. Mr. Holmer said the three percent increase in costs will be difficult to accomplish, but unless the council receives other direction, it should be attempted. He favors user fees. He said serial levies are difficult to get passed, and he is glad they are not recommended until 1988. He is concerned because the City is not maintaining its infrastructure adequately. Mr. Miller said people may want services, but the last vote indicated they do not want additional taxes. He said hourly wages in the community are lower than in the past, even though employment is up. People do not want to pay more taxes because of increased City costs. He wished the system could be changed so that City expenses do not increase when most people's wages do not increase. He said user fees are a wise choice, although they must be approved carefully. He hopes dedicated revenues can be sought from the State. Ms. Bascom liked the idea of funding the Fire Department Redeployment Plan with a serial levy. She would prefer reductions in each department's expenses to implementing the service reductions suggested. She favored user fees. She also favored the use of the delinquent taxes collected for the CIP. She would approve an executive budget prepared with the forecast Mr. Wong presented. Mr. Rutan said the budget is too tight. There are too many things that could change downward. He said the costs will probably increase more than three percent, and planning should indicate that. He said the council should start the budget process by making some difficult policy decisions. He hoped the financial strategies can be more dramatic. He does not like serial levies, but they must be considered. He hoped the money the City is investing now will be returned in a better economic condition in the future. Ms. Ehrman was bothered by the recommendation to fund the CIP with delinquent taxes because people may not pay them. She said reducing costs may not mean cutting out complete programs as suggested; she would like to explore such things as wage cuts for non-union employees, because people in the community have had to take wage cuts. She will consider serial levies and user fees. Mayor Obie said people in the community seem to want a decrease in the per capita cost of local government, they want a decrease in the property tax, and they want local government income spent for services. He thought the City could accomplish these things. The per capita costs probably can be decreased if the population grows. He favored user fees for such things as library costs, gas taxes, and business licenses. He is apprehensive about increasing property taxes because they may become too burdensome for people and delin- quent taxes may increase. He is also apprehensive about serial levies. He said he would like to reduce property taxes because the per capita income in the City is decreasing. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 21, 1986 Page 5