09/10/1985 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Hansen said he also favored referring something with a good chance of e passing and that would make good use of resources for economic development. He said he recognized a general conclusion that the airport was important. He said the operations budget would lack $3 million this coming year, which needed to picked up or painful cuts in operations and capital improvements would be needed. He said he felt the infrastructure improvements and maintenance, including the airport, was necessary, but the library costs were too high, ill-advised, and premature. He said he supported going to voters with the two issues of the airport and shortfall replacement, and with a sunset provision written into the measure for implementation once the airport wa s bu i 1 t. Mr. Obie noted that the airport, CIP, and the library seemed to have fairly consistent support, with further discussion needed on the sunset provision, cost of operating the library, percentage of tax, dedication of revenue, and a low-income exemption. Mr. Obie outlined the costs of the airport project, saying needs started at $1.5 million/year and reduced gradually to nothing over 20 years. He sa i d th e CIP costs were $2.6 million, and administration costs and credits were $.5 mi 11 ion. He proposed putting the library costs in beginning at $125,OOO/year and increasing as the airport costs decrease over 20 years, leaving time to study location and feasibility. He said that would make total costs of about $4,625,000/year, which should convert to about a .4 percent income tax rate. He also said that would leave CIP somewhat undefined. e Mr. Wong said with a 1/2 percent rate, every $1,000 excluded meant a loss of about $.5 million, from a total of $6 million. Ms. Wooten said she was not interested in an exemption for everyone, only for those with low incomes. Mr. Obie said he had heard people express feelings that everyone should pay something a s a contributi on to the communi ty. Ms. Wooten said she thought the proposal was a good one, but issues remaining undecided were what was to be included in the unfunded CIP, downtown, low-income exemption or credit, and whether the library should go on a separate ballot measure. She said she did not favor a separate ballot measure for the library, as some people who did not see the need for airport expansion might support the library. She also said she was worried about a fallback position if the ballot measure failed in November. Ms. Ehrman suggested possibly scaling down the projections for the airport, saying some people had raised questions about the need for meeting rooms. Mr. Rutan said the bare minimum needed was $9 million, and he and Mr. Hansen were recommending $17.1 million, or $1.5 million/year. Ms. Ehrman also said Springfield's mayor had expressed interest in the gas tax, and that might be a fallback position for CIP or road funding. Mr. Obie agreed that a gas tax might be looked at in the future. Ms. Bascom said airport meeting rooms had been supported when it was clarified that only two rooms were planned. She also said another fallback position might include a property tax levy for the airport. She said she supported e those three projects because they had emerged with the most public support. MINUTES--Eugene City Council Revenue Work Session September 10, 1985 Pa ge 7