07/09/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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VI. LANE ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION--STATUS REPORT (memo distributed) Jim Farah, Planning, stated that funds for the Lane Economic Improvement . Commission were in the Tier 1 budget and that money is available. Mr. Haws asked if this would mean that the City would fund LEIC as well as the City's Economic Development Board. Mr. Henry responded that the City is funding a portion of the intergovernmental commission. Mr. Haws then asked how much money is involved. Mr. Farah responded $23,000. Ms. Smith asked how much came from the other jurisdictions. Mr. Farah responded that funding from the jurisdictions in the LEIC is based on a per-capita ratio of 17.14 cents per person. Nick Landis, Staff Director of LEIC, stated that Springfield has paid $4,000 rather than the average contribu- tion of $7,000, and the County is also about $3,000 short. Ms. Smith asked what impact that would have on the commission. Mr. Landis responded that they would be meeting tomorrow night, and he hopes Springfield will be able to help. Ms. Smith noted she is willing to continue with the recommendation, but she does not like to see Eugene pay and not Lane County and Springfield, who also benefit from the services. Mr. Obie noted agreement with Ms. Smith's comments. He noted that recent results from the commission have been positive. He feels Eugene should limit its funding to a fair share rather than an ongoing funding situation. Mr. Haws noted that this project had come about because of Lane County and now they are not fully funding their portion of it. He agreed that the City should pay only on a fair-share basis and could place some funds in reserve, should the other jurisdictions pay their full fair share. Mr. Farah stated that other items are happening with longer range impli- . cations for the City, such as outlining the capabilities of the City for bonding which the staff feels is important. City support of the Economic Improvement Commission is important and the City is committed to economic development. He feels progress has been made. It is the understanding of the staff that they would come back with recommendations on confirmed funding on a yearly basis. Mayor Keller asked who raised the basic question of the LEIC i~self. Mr. Farah responded that the impetus c'ame from Lane County, but it was an understanding that went beyond that. Mr. Haws stated he knows it is true everyone else got involved but thinks that Eugene does not get any more advantages than when this was under L-COG. Mr. Delay noted that a question of equity ended up with a $4,300 reduction to L-RAPA. It is obvious that the equity question will have to be dealt with. He suggested continuing participation and requesting that the other jurisdictions fully fund their portions. Mr. Landis stated that at tomorrow's meeting, they will talk about the equity level. They are working with individual cities that are not contributing. Those making less or no contributions get less help. The other way they could deal with this would be to have a multi-year budget so that agencies which cannot fully contribute in one year could make it up in another year. Ms. . 7/9/80--8