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MINUTES <br /> <br /> Eugene City Council <br /> Work Session <br /> McNutt Room--City Hall <br /> <br /> April 20, 2005 <br /> Noon <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Gary Pap6, <br /> Bonny Bettman, Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor. <br /> <br />Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. <br /> <br />A. ACTION: <br /> Resolution 4832 Authorizing the City Manager to Make Application to the State of Oregon for <br /> Designation of a West Eugene Enterprise Zone <br /> <br /> Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to approve Resolution 4832 authorizing the <br /> City Manager to make application to the State of Oregon for designation of a West Eugene <br /> Enterprise Zone. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor declared that the City was entering into the enterprise zone process unwisely and without enough <br />public input. She cited several resources that supported her argument that such a zone would insulate <br />development from the public arena for ten years and that little benefit had been reaped from such tax <br />incentives in other areas of the country. She averred that an enterprise zone tended to redistribute the <br />existing business activity and did not increase jobs. She felt the zone would more likely transfer jobs from <br />one area of town to another. She predicted that six to eight people would move to the City of Eugene for <br />every job provided. She quoted Eben Fodor, who said enterprise zones robbed communities of their tax <br />base, subsidizing only a few businesses and giving no advantage to others. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor cited related City policies, on page 24 of the agenda packet, adding that staff could "relate <br />anything they wanted to do to City policy." <br /> <br /> Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Kelly, moved to amend Resolution No. 4832, the Attach- <br /> ment B version on page 31 of the agenda packet, to add the following provision to Section <br /> B; 'in addition, no investment within the Enterprise Zone will receive a tax exemption <br /> greater than an amount per new job created, with numbers to be determined prior to the <br /> zone's implementation.' <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman averred that the zone would transfer tax money from needed services to subsidize jobs. She <br />felt the zone was based on the amount of the investment and not the number of new jobs new business would <br />provide. She thought this benefit was disproportionate to the benefit to the community. She wanted there to <br />be a threshold for achieving community standards. She said a vote for her amendment would motivate her to <br />support the main motion. <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 20, 2005 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />