01/13/1992 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

e tions to the budget deficit. Mr. Weeks said the report suggests glvlng more intensive consideration to alternative means of service delivery. Mr. Simonsen gave more detailed information on revenue raising, saying three out of four respondents chose one of the general taxes, but there is no ma- jority support for anyone tax. He noted there was most support for corpo- rate, restaurant, room, and entertainment taxes and least support for utili- ty, personal income, and payroll taxes. Mr. Simonsen said this pattern was consistent among the three instruments. He said there was most support for combining two or more taxes to yield $8 million, but there was no agreement on which taxes to combine. Combining gross receipts and corporate taxes received the highest vote; 20.5 percent of the respondents chose this combi- nation. Mr. Simonsen said that there was considerable support for a combination of establishing and increasing user fees. Most often suggested were establish- ing fees for the Concerts In The Park program and increasing fees for recrea- tion programs in community centers. There was a reluctance to increase user fees for specialized services (services to seniors and people with disabili- ties). Mr. Simonsen said that taxes for construction bonds (property taxes) for capital improvement projects were divided as follows: 40 percent--affordable housing 42 percent--fire redeployment enhancement e Mr. We'ks summarized the presentation, saying the City Council has engaged the public in a serious discussion about the problems that the community is facing. He said the process had shown that involving the public in these discussions can be done. Mr. Weeks concluded that the process ought to be continued, if at all possible, leading to movement from the general to the particular. Responding to questions from the council, Mr. Weeks said his conclusion about the process being a success and wanting to carry it forward, is not based simply on the high rate of response. He noted that the data is "S0 sensible" it cannot be ignored, saying great thoughtfulness was demonstrated by the public. Mr. Weeks emphasized that the workshop experience was valuable for data collection as well as involving large numbers of community members in serious discussion. He said that anecdotal comments made by respondents have been transcribed into a 250-page document that is available on request. Responding to a question from Councilor Green, Mr. Simonsen said many people expressed disappointment that there was no entry regarding administrative costs for them to check. Councilor Boles was struck by the dichotomy between personal and business taxes. He asked for a brief one-page summary outlining the professors' con- clusions. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 13, 1992 Page 4