11/08/1978 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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... VI. Preliminary Discussion of Election Results: Impact on City Policy Directions -----------~----- e President Hamel said he hoped the State legislators would heed the voters concern regarding tax limitation. Manager reported statewide results of voting on Ballot Measures 6 and 11: Ballot Measure 6--451,000 No votes, 422,000 Yes votes; Ballot Measure 11--465,000 No votes, 382,000 Yes votes. He said it seems apparent the Legislature will have to study the tax limitation in depth and the City should take part in every possible way during that process. He noted department heads would be meeting next week to assess actions the City should take and to follow up on the goals and guidelines from the recent City Council goal-setting session. The result of that discussion would be to bring to Council a work program and actions that could be considered by the Council in the future. In response to a question from Mr. Haws, Manager said the City was in no different situation now than it was last year. He assummed the Budget Committee would be operating on the same schedule as last year. He noted however, the Lane County results showed very decidedly that voters favored Ballot Measure 11 as Ballot Measure 6 was rejected by a sizeable majority. Ms. Smith said she did not feel the City was in the same place as it had been a year ago. The City needs to be sensitive to the fact that the mood of the voters is to take a serious look at what types of services and pro- grams are really needed. Manager said possibly a guideline could be esta- blished from the voters responses on Ballot Measures 6 and 11. Perhaps e the City should be considering limiting increased taxes based on growth factors and cost of lliving increases as specified in Ballot Measure 11. Mr. Obie said it was obvious the voters wanted tax some relief. He fe 1t this gave the City an excellent opportunity to take the offensive and poten- tially set the stage for leadership in the State. He said perhaps the bud- get decisions should be within certain limits, and within those limits the City will do the very best it can to provide services for its citizens. Mr. Delay agreed it would be necessary to take a hard look at services in view of Lane County's voters feeling on tax limitations. However, he said the City should not deny the opportunity to bring programs that may be needed by the community to the voter. He also felt the Council and Budget Committee had been very frugal in the past. The passage of Ballot Measure 11 in Lane County indicated to him that the voters do want tax reform, and perhaps they are not just striking out at government. He felt it would be necessary to watch closely the Legislature, and perhaps people in the community will be observing more closely what happens at the State legislative level. Upon motion duly made, seconded, and passed, the meeting was adjourned to November 15, 1978. ~!n~ City Manager DT:er/CM27bl e 11/8/78--8 ''2.'