CC Minutes - 01/27/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Nathanson noted that Lane County had opportunities to join with its cities in addressing the growing road maintenance backlog. She said it was unfortunate that the County had balanced its budget by reducing the amount of Road Funds available to its cities. Councilor Poling, seconded by Councilor Pap~ moved to amend the motion by changing Section 3.467(b) of the proposed ordinance to make the amount of the tax $.03. Councilor Poling said the amendment would enable a level playing field with Springfield. Councilor Kelly favored the $.04 amount because more of the backlog could be addressed with the additional funds collected. He noted that even at $.04 the full amount needed would still not be reached. He added that prices varied as much as $.07 at different stations so there would not be much of a disparity between Eugene and Springfield. Mr. Corey said the Budget Committee would determine what the funding level ultimately needed to be. Councilor Bettman reiterated Councilor Kelly's comments regarding the variation in price at different gas stations. Roll call vote; the amendment passed, 4:3; councilors Bettman, Kelly, and Taylor voting in opposition. Councilor Bettman said she would support the amended motion because any revenue collected via the gas tax would reduce the overall burden to residents required to pay the Transportation System Maintenance Fee. Mayor Torrey commented that the decision being made by the council was a tough one and was made even tougher by the fact that Lane County had a $53 million Road Fund reserve that could be used to address the issue. He said Eugene and Springfield represented 47 percent of Lane County and were not receiving their fair share of County road funds. He opined that the council would repeal the transportation maintenance fee and lower the gas tax if the City received its fair share of County road funds. Councilor Solomon, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved to amend the motion by changing the language in the ordinance so that dealers would not be charged for an additional license fee. Councilor Solomon said she did not want to place an additional fee on dealers who were already incurring additional expense by the extra staff time involved in implementing the ordinance. City Manager Carlson suggested, to general consensus, that it be a motion to direct the city manager instead of amending the original motion. Councilor Solomon withdrew her motion. The main motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10 p.m. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 27, 2003 Page 12 Regular Meeting