09/23/1992 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Nicholson pointed out the political advantage of Option 2. He also expressed concern with what he termed overuse of the charter amendment process. Mr. Boles appealed to those councilors leaving the City Council to put the context around the decision in a much longer time frame than the council has historically done, saying Option 1 binds the hands of the new council with respect to the restaurant tax as a source for other projects; or, putting the council in the position of going for double charter changes. Responding to Ms. Bascom's concern that passing a restaurant tax will take multiple votes, Ms. Ehrman pointed out that the City's consultant has said that the information received through the Eugene Decisions process is statis- tically valid and can be equated to voters. Therefore, the vote should be successful the first time out. A straw vote revealed the following: Support for Option 1 from Ms. Bascom, Mr. MacDonald, and Mr. Robinette; the other councilors favoring Option 2. Saying that the process of landing on an option has been scrupulously fair, Mr. Nicholson said that he, like Mr. Rutan, will support the council majority. Mr. MacDonald said he is also willing to move with the council majority, and will campaign for balancing the budget. He commended Ms. Ehrman for bringing forth an imaginative proposal. e Ms. Bascom expressed a willingness to facilitate council consensus and asked for an explanation of what would be put before voters. Mayor Miller explained that voters are asked to approve a 2.5 percent restaurant tax to fund the core package of services (or core capital). In addition, there will be a cap set in the charter that the tax cannot increase beyond 5 percent, but that the differential must go before the voters, with a specific project attached. Mr. Boles moved, seconded by Ms. Bascom, to adopt Option 2 with the understanding that Option 2 is adopted as the theme and staff will provide additional material to enable the council to refine the proposal. The motion includes deletion of the specific sunset, merely stating "with a sunset." Mayor Miller explained that the motion is a directive to staff to bring back to the council a charter amendment that will reflect the intent of Option 2, including decision points. The council decided to leave the decision open for about a week. Mr. Rutan noted that the Chamber Revenue Tax Force is scheduled to complete its work on September 28. City Attorney Bill Gary received clarification that the staff directive requires the preparation of two measures. One is a charter amendment for the council to vote on to refer to the voters, consistent with Option 2. The e MINUTES--City Council Work Session September 23, 1992 Page 4 11:30 a.m.