09/15/1986 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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expenses. Mr. Gleason said the council guidelines indicate that a vote in March 1987 on a serial levy will be considered to fund the Police, Fire and e Emergency Services Redeployment Plan. C. Discussion/Additional Direction Mayor Obie suggested the councilors comment on the possibility of decreasing the projected increase in the Cityls expenses. Mr. Hansen said he supports decreasing the projected increase. He said the City's taxes are not the largest part of the bill that taxpayers receive but he does not think citizens will approve increasing City taxes. Mr. Miller and Ms. Ehrman agreed with him. Ms. Ehrman said the voters might approve specific projects, however. Mr. Boles said the specific projects should be described exactly for the voters. He suggested scientific polls be commissioned to see if the voters wi 11 approve specific projects. He said the research should be done before the council decides about submitting the projects to the voters. Ms. Schue pointed out the financing of improvements to Mahlon Sweet Airport had not been discussed during the evening. Mayor Obie said the council has increased user fees recently.. He said he is concerned about the increasing costs of operating the City. Mr. Wong responded that the City cannot control the increasing costs such as binding arbitration settlements. In addition, the council has added some services to the budget such as the fi re preventi on program. Mr. Gleason sa i d the projected deficits are mostly the result of losing Federal Revenue Sharing funds. He said many cities charge for such things as business licenses and have higher fees than Eugene has. e Mr. Miller wondered if churches, school districts, State offices, and other such organizations could be charged for the police and fire protection the City provides. Mr. Gleason said such a charge for servi ces woul d be controversial and probably would provide only about $150,000 annually. He emphasized that the expected deficit is about $3 million. Mr. Pape' said the Lane County 0 & C Fund has money in it. He wondered if Lane County officials could be persuaded to transfer some of it to the City to pay for things the City does for the County. Several councilors responded that the Urban Services Policy Committee is working on such a transfer. Mayor Obie suggested Budget Committee members review the work of the Urban Services Policy Committee. Mr. Boles said capital projects increase future operating costs. He thanked the councilors for not approving capital projects when operating funds for them are not identified. He said it is difficult to differentiate between replacement of the infrastructure and the purchase of new assets and the distinction should be made in the budget. He said voters are more apt to approve replacements than purchases of new things that will increase operating costs. He said the council will have to approve new sources of revenue even though such decisions are difficult. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 15, 1986 Page 5