CC Minutes - 09/25/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lane County Intergovernmental Relations Manager, Tony Bieda, stated, in response to Councilor Bettman’s second question, that the mix of funds that were applied to the health and human services programs and services that the County currently offered would require analysis to determine how the public safety tax would be applied. Mr. Harcleroad noted that Councilor Bettman’s third question sought to clarify what process the County Commissioners would use to modify the revenue allocation proposal. He explained that the charter amendment said, under (2), that through 2012 Lane County would focus increased revenue on significantly reducing illegal drug production, dealing, and use, especially methamphetamine; reducing family violence, enhancing drug and alcohol treatment programs for addicted adult and youth, and providing prevention programs to reduce future crime. He said the board had to do so for at least five years. There was a detailed list of all of the programs put together by the task force on which the Mayor and Councilor Kelly had sat. Regarding a question from Councilor Bettman that asked whether a $30 refund due to a renter who paid income tax could potentially be given to his or her landlord, Mr. Harcleroad stressed that it was not a refund; rather it was a credit that went to the individual that applied for the tax return. Mr. Harlcleroad stated, in response to another question from Councilor Bettman, that the cost to administer the program was estimated to be three percent, or $800,000. Councilor Bettman agreed that there was a deficit in funding the public safety services that the City did not address. She also agreed that the task force had done a good job of identifying the problems and the solutions. However, she opposed the funding mechanism. She believed it would lose at the ballot. She said she would have supported the tax if it had been configured differently. She said if the measure failed, she would be happy to serve on the next tax force. Councilor Bettman said she had a problem with the measure as it was written because she felt it was a simple process for commissioners to add or take away services. She interpreted the language as allowing capital infrastructure to be built with this money. She asserted that the measure was not constrained enough to the “valuable services” people would endorse when voting. She called the charter amendment “a Machiavellian mechanism” that said the income tax would be limited. She thought the charter amendment should have “strictly called out” the percentages that would be allocated to prevention, treatment, parole, and the capacity at the jail. Councilor Papé said the need was well-documented and he trusted the commissioners to do the right thing. He also respected the process, though he would have done it differently. He supported the resolution. He was concerned by the greatness of the need. Councilor Poling thanked Mayor Piercy and Councilor Kelly for their comments. He stated that the matrix system for early release from the county jail had been put into use in 1986. At that time, he worked with a deputy and the worst crime for which arrestees were “matrixed out” had been a “Theft 3” or a Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII). He said over the years, the cutoff point for the matrix system kept growing and the number of inmates kept growing and the caliber of inmate being released became more serious. He averred that the system had been crumbling since 1978. He declared that the measure was one of the best proposals he had seen over the years to try and help fund the law enforcement community in Lane County. He supported the measure and hoped that his colleagues would support it as well. He did not believe that a commissioner would come in 2013 and circumvent the charter amendment. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 25, 2006 Page 11 Regular Meeting