11/21/1983 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I. M I NUT E S e Eugene City Council City Council Chamber November 21, 1983 11 :45 a.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Brian Obie, Freeman Holmer, Emily Schue, Richard Hansen, Betty Smith. COUNCILORS ABSENT: John Ball, Mark Lindberg, Cynthia Wooten. Adjourned meeting of the City Council of the City of Eugene, Oregon, was called to order by His Honor Mayor Gus Keller. 1. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Referral to Voters of Constitutional Amendments Regarding Expenditure Limitation/Sales Tax/Property Tax Relief (memo, background information distributed) City Manager Micheal Gleason introduced the agenda item. Jody Miller of Inter- governmental Relations presented the staff report, stating that the purpose of the hearing was to receive testimony on the question of whether to refer the tax package passed by the Special Session of the State Legislature to the voters. e She stated that the City had been working on the issue for several years through the League of Oregon Cities and the State Legislature, adding that the package presented to the council had been approved by the League of Oregon Cities at its conference the previous week. She noted that the new tax package included the element of a referral process requiring a majority of local governments to apply to the Secretary of State for a statewide election on the constitutional amendment. She then reviewed her November 15 memorandum to the City Manager, written in conjunction with Financial Services Director Warren Wong, which outlined those amendments and the referral process. Ms. Miller explained that a motion would need to be approved by the council requesting the Secretary of State establish an election should the council choose to refer those amendments to the voters. She stated the Mayor had been presented with the Application for Election form which should be signed by those councilors voting in favor of the el ecti on. She added that letters from the Eugene Chamber of Commerce, the League of Oregon Voters, and Ed Hemmingsborn of the Communist Party U.S.A. had been received and distributed to the council. The public hearing was opened. Carl Hostika, 870 Fox Glenn, State Representative, stated that he represents parts of the City of Eugene in the State LegiSlature and had been a member of the House Revenue Committee which designed parts of the tax package. He recommended that the package be referred to the people so that a determination could be made on the issue. He stressed that he did not believe in the sales tax, explaining that he did not believe it to be the fairest method to provide e property tax relief. Representative Hostika felt that no alternative methods of MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 21, 1983 Page 1