09/30/1987 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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another 20 years; whether, in other words, the next 20 years of urban renewal will benefit the City also. Mr. Holmer said that in his comparison of the e assessed values of different taxing districts, he did not include the value of the Hult and Conference Center; including it in the data has a much greater percentage i nfl uence on the Urban Renewal District than on other taxing districts. Also, the boundaries of Lane County did not expand during the last 20 years. He said that since 1968, Lane County's assessed value has more than quadrupled, whil e the assessed value of the Urban Renewal Di stri ct has increased 125 percent. He said this does not mean that urban renewal was not beneficial; rather, it means that the growth in assessed value was not as great for downtown as it was for Lane County. He said this analysis indicates that the City should not be too optimistic about what urban renewal will accomplish over the next 20 years. (Mr. Holmer's analysis was contained in a June 22, 1987, memo from him to the Mayor and City Council.) Mr. Gleason said he envisioned a slightly different question before the council: urban renewal has been used to reverse a declining trend in the downtown; so, should the use of this tool be continued in order to finish a project that has established a significant foundation but ha s not been completed? Mr. Obie said the trend data cited by staff included the demolition and acquisition of property that occurred from 1968 to 1974; he said these actions made the declining trend from 1968 to 1974 greater than what the actual trend was prior to the beginning of Urban Renewal. Mr. Gleason said the buildings that were demolished were the ones in poorest condition; so this demolition di d not significantly exacerbate the declining trends. He said downtown Eugene in 1968 was characteristic of almost all cities that reach an age of e about 100 years: the oldest and poorest buildings begin to be a major detriment and the assessed value of the entire core begins to decline rapidly. Mr. Byrne outlined the two basic options envisioned by staff for the development of downtown. Without tax increment, downtown development would be of lower intensity (lower floor-area ratios), would rely more on surface parking or small underground lots serving individual buildings, and would depend more on automobile use and less on mass transit. With tax increment, a higher intensity development would occur with parking structures and mass transit to support this intensity. Mr. Byrne said the consistent policy direction over the past 20 years has been toward the latter type of downtown. He said this policy vision cannot be realized without the tool of urban renewa 1 . C. Tax Increment and the Overall Tax Rate In response to a question, Mr. Farkas said the annual tax increment revenue is about $1.9 million. He said that if this increment revenue were returned to property taxpayers, they would receive a tax reduction of about 68 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Mr. Bryne said that if the decision were made to terminate the district, about seven years would be required to defease the bonds. At this point, property taxpayers would receive a tax reduction of about 89 cents per $1,000 of assessed value (the current 68 cents would be inflated over seven years to about 89 cents). e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 30, 1987 Page 7