CC Minutes - 10/16/06 Public Hearing

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Gary Wildish , 2424 Quince Street, supported reducing the maintenance backlog but not the backfill of Public Works administration costs. The only administrative costs that should be paid for by the tax should be only that directly related to street preservation projects. He encouraged the council to make maintenance of the streets a priority. He said any money from such a fee should be dedicated to curb-to-curb repairs and the repairs should be done by the private sector. Mr. Wildish suggested that the City dedicate the contribution-in-lieu-of taxes (CILT) it received from the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) to the backlog. He said that the local business community already supported the transportation system as a large portion of LTD’s budget was provided by local business. Terry Connelly , 1401 Willamette Street, representing the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber did not dispute the need for repairing the maintenance backlog. However, the chamber did not think the proposed fee was the right solution. He believed the ordinance was an improvement on the ordinance proposed previously, but the fee still lacked the conditions needed to make it work. Mr. Connelly said the chamber was very concerned about accountability as the money was not dedicated to curb-to-curb maintenance, which where the backlog problem existed. Future councils could chose to use the money for other purposes in the transportation system than the backlog. Future councils could also increase the fee without a vote or any certainty the money would go to the backlog. Mr. Connelly agreed with previous speakers who said the fee would not be cost-effective and would be expensive to collect. He said that many residents could not justify new fees when the council had not identified the backlog of street maintenance as a top priority or dedicated any additional money to it. The gas tax was one incremental step in solving the problem. Mr. Connelly said such fees had real implications for the cost of doing business, and that was hard for the chamber to ignore. David Hauser , 1401 Willamette Street, representing the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber continued to support the local fuel tax and would continue to lobby the Board of County Commissioners to restore the partnership road moneys to Lane County cities. He said the chamber also supported the use of General Fund moneys to demonstrate the issue’s priority. Mr. Hauser suggested that the establishment of a long-term financial goal for street preservation similar to what had been done for a new city hall complex would be appropriate. Mr. Hauser said the chamber supported the exploration of using general obligation bonds to pay for a portion of the backlog, noting such bonds had been used successfully in Salem, Oregon. It had the advantage of providing greater accountability to the citizens, including a sunset that allowed evaluation of the ordinance, allowing citizen input into the prioritization of the backlog, and requiring the City to continue to make a case for funding. He said that if a well thought-out bond dedicated to curb-to-curb backlog was proposed, the chamber would work with the City for its passage. Lisa Warnes , 5020 Nectar Way, did not support charging a $5 fee to all residents, particularly low-income residents, suggesting that people might be forced to decide between heating their house and paying the fee. She said in light of the lack of a guarantee of how the money would be used, she did not support the ordinance. She said that the council should follow up on some of the suggestions made in testimony, and asked if a vehicle registration fee had been considered. Dave Perez , 2055 Patterson Street, Director of the YMCA and representative of United Way Executives, thanked Mr. Corey and his staff for their accessibility. He commended the chamber for preparing an alternative proposal. He asked the council to consider a waiver for nonprofit agencies and 501(c)(3) organizations given the significant and negative impact such a fee would have on those agencies’ abilities to provide services. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 16, 2006 Page 9 Public Hearing