CC MInutes - 01/08/03 SOC - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor Torrey addressed the issue of transportation funding, saying it should not be an "us against them" situation. He called for new and more efficient ways to meet transportation challenges. He said the City needed help from its Congressional delegation, the State Legislature, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the Lane Board of County Commissioners for additional funding for the I-5 Beltline project and for funding for transportation solutions to connect the new federal courthouse to downtown Eugene. Mayor Torrey addressed the issue of funding for road maintenance, saying that the Eugene and Springfield city councils have been criticized in some quarters for the decision they made to fund the maintenance of basic road systems. He assured those present the decision was not taken lightly. He indicated willingness to consider other solutions to solve the road maintenance problem. He offered to work with Eugene's governmental partners to reduce or totally replace the recently adopted transportation system maintenance fee by: 1) seeking a statewide gas tax dedicated to maintaining existing roads; 2) seeking a statewide studded tire fee with proceeds used to maintain existing roads; and 3) developing a Lane County Road Maintenance Plan that would put all road related funds, from all sources including the existing dollars in the Lane County Road Fund that come to Lane County and the cities within Lane County, into one Road Maintainance Fund. He pointed out that the urban and rural parts of the county were all part of one big Lane County. Mayor Torrey acknowledged a distribution formula would have to be negotiated and agreed upon between the Lane County Board of Commissioners and the various Lane County city governments. He envisioned the creation of a countywide road maintenance department that would handle all road maintenance for both Lane County and the cities within Lane County. He said his proposal was not "business as usual" but he did not believe the community could afford "business as usual" solutions. Regarding Ballot Measure 20-67, the local school funding measure, Mayor Torrey said that it was never intended to be the final solution. It was and continued to be a way to fill the gap locally while the citizens waited for the legislature and new governor to create an equitable and sustainable funding source for education in Oregon. He said that Eugene citizens stepped up when they voted for Ballot Measure 20-67 but he did not feel the job was done. He acknowledged the efforts of councilors Bettman, Farr, and Kelly in the passage of the measure. Mayor Torrey reported that he was already beginning to hear comments from legislators that they did not know if they would have time to deal with the many issues facing the state, such as PERS, the economy, and education funding. He acknowledged the difficulty of the challenge facing the State legislature but said that failure to meet the challenge was not acceptable. He said that in November, the League of Oregon Cities unanimously voted to ask the legislature to deal with the issue of the school funding during this legislative session and to provide the voters of Oregon an opportunity to vote on a plan no later than November 2004. He termed the league's proposal reasonable. Mayor Torrey said that he would visit every Oregon county seat over the next four months to ask the local mayor, county commissioners, school superintendents and local business and school supporters for their support in asking their local State Representatives and State Senators to get this important job done before they adjourn this year. Mayor Torrey concluded his remarks by saying that this year, perhaps more than any of the previous years, we truly have miles to go before we sleep. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 9, 2002 Page 3 State of the City