CC Minutes - 05/27/03 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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election time. However, she was less concerned about delivering library services through a special district than she was about other services. She favored an investigation of special districts. Ms. Nathanson indicated she was not enthusiastic about the topic, although she thought that special districts had a place. She agreed with Mr. Meisner that such districts did not mean more money would be collected. If the purpose of such districts was to spread the burden of paying services more broadly to those who benefitted, she would be interested. However, she was concerned about the potential impact of such districts on existing services, which she feared could be degraded. Ms. Nathanson was not interested in taking any action that caused Eugene citizens to lose the services they now enjoyed and counted on. She was also not interested in breaching the City's commitment to new community branch libraries, as she thought that would anger many in the community. She pointed out that special districts would require separate administrative bodies and must have an elected oversight body, adding additional costs. Ms. Nathanson said that at this point, she was not interested in directing staff to do further research. Ms. Solomon asked if the City could have a local option library renewal and a special district proposal on the same ballot. City Manager Taylor said that could occur. Mr. Carlson indicated that the vote on the local option levy would require a double-majority if it appeared on a ballot other than the November ballot. Responding to a question from Mr. Pap8 regarding Lane County's level of involvement in the topic, Mr. Carlson indicated that the County did not have any staff available to assist the City in its investigation of library service districts. At the request of Mr. PapS, Mr. Carlson reviewed the proposals submitted by the Lane Library League, one of which was promoting full library coverage across Lane County with four library districts, two existing and two new districts. Speaking to Ms. Nathanson's remarks, Mr. Carlson suggested that if the City was interested in a library district proposal at all, it was preferable that the City, rather than the Lane Library League, develop such a proposal, given staff's expertise on Oregon's taxation system and library operations. He added that the City was working closely with the league. Responding to a question from Mr. Pap8 regarding the impact of City's revenue actions on special districts, Mr. Carlson indicated that the City would not be able to impact the district's permanent tax rates. In terms of compression, all governments would be treated equally. Mr. Carlson said that the local option levies would be compressed first, so the City could not consume all the available property tax revenues. Mr. Pap~ thought the council should be looking at special districts as the responsible thing to do, but he preferred looking at the airport and Fire & Emergency Medical Services first as potential service districts. He preferred to defer the issue until the council had an opportunity to discuss those services and establish its highest priorities. He maintained that the airport was a regional facility and he thought the potential of regional partners should be explored. Mr. Pap~ called for a second round of council comments. Mr. Meisner agreed with Mr. Carlson's remarks that the City was the best entity to explore the concept of special districts. The Lane Library League was more interested in the provision of MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 27, 2003 Page 8 Work Session