CC Minutes - 06/23/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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SDC funds could only be used when capacity was added. She said state law required that a plan listing capital improvement projects be made. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding the re-appropriation of attorney's allocations, Mr. Carlson said a preliminary allocation for civil litigation budgets was made among the different departments at the beginning of the year. He said a re-allocation was always done at the current time of the year to make sure that departments that had incurred legal costs received resources from that line item. He added that the re-allocation did not increase or decrease the total amount allocated to the purpose nor was any extra funding available for other purposes. Ms. Bettman raised concern over moving operating funds into the capital budget. She cited moving $208,546 from General Fund fire contract savings to the General Fund Road Capital Projects Fund to cover Fire Station 11 as an example. She said the City did not have the funds to staff the facility. In response to a question from Councilor Solomon regarding the settlement on the Ferry Street Bridge and how it could be funded from SDCs, Tom Coyle said the project had major components dealing with capacity enhancement. He said there was no question in his mind that it was a legal use of SDCs. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly regarding the relationship between a one-time request of $300,000 in FY04 for fire backfill because of retirements and training and the current contingency request, Chief Tom Tallon said that, since early July, 2002, the department had experienced 23 retirements, each costing between $15,000 - $20,000 per employee. He said this number of retirements was much greater than anticipated because of PERS legislation. He noted that there would be 21 more employees who would be eligible for retirement in 2004. Councilor Kelly questioned why there had been no mention of this during the budget process. In response to a question from Councilor Poling regarding SDCs of one type being used in other types of funds, Mr. Carlson said is was possible because it was done as an intra-fund loan. He said the SDCs were rolled up into one reporting fund. He added that there was not enough money in the Transportation SDC portion of that reporting fund and money would be loaned from the parks SDC portion which would be repaid by Transportation SDCs over the next several years. In response to a question from Councilor Poling regarding the legality of using SDC funds to pay for Ferry Street Bridge litigation, City Attorney Jerry Lidz said SDC monies needed to be used for enhancements to level of service. He said he could not give a definite answer without seeing an analysis of which portions of the project increased capacity and which were aesthetic in nature, but said his impression was that the City's share could be attributable to capacity enhancement, given the City's relatively small share of the funding of the project. Councilor Pap~, seconded by Councilor Nathanson, moved to approve Resolution 4762 adopting a supplemental budget; making appropriations for the City of Eugene for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2002 and ending June 30, 2003. MINUTES Eugene City Council June 23, 2003 Page 10 Regular Meeting