CC Minutes - 07/28/03 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Pap~ said he agreed with Ms. Nathanson and Mr. Kelly's remarks about street lighting and felt it was a safety issue beyond transportation. He asked about the status of the Sidewalk Program. Mr. Corey replied the program's assessment practices required a substantial contribution from the City as projects, primarily for intersection work, moved forward. He said those projects would generally be funded from Fund 131 and as the balance has gone down and reserves used, the majority of the Sidewalk Program had been placed in abeyance. He said most work during the last three construction seasons leveraged Community Development Block Grant moneys, State grants, and other sources to provide handicap access work, bike path, and pedestrian crossing improvements, but currently there was no proactive sidewalk installation program. Mr. Pap~ remarked that there were a number of older developments in the community that did not have sidewalks and it represented a safety hazard. Mr. Pap~ asked the City Manager to research how the County Road Fund has been allocated and determine, over the past year, how much was available and how it was distributed. Mr. Taylor replied that the information would be included as part of a larger report being prepared in response to the new funds coming from the State and other transportation funding issues. Mr. Corey said the citizen members of the Budget Committee discussed the Sidewalk Program, but their focus was on the backlog of maintenance projects, and other options were not addressed. He said a "Eugene livability fee" was discussed that was similar to a transportation utility fee with the express purpose of paying for amenities like street trees, bike paths, lighting, sidewalks, nodal development, median work and similar activities. He said he did not disagree that sidewalks were important, but there was simply not enough in the Road Fund, given the priorities, to sustain an ongoing sidewalk program. Ms. Taylor agreed with Mr. Kelly on the need for tax reform. She said the council should reconsider earlier suggestions from staff and the City Club on broad-based taxes, rather than looking at a number of small fees to pay for different services. She said that government needed to find a fair way to fund services that people should expect to receive. She also agreed with Ms. Bettman's comments on the need to take care of maintenance before adding capacity to the system. Mayor Torrey expressed his appreciation for the staff work, but said staff needed to find alternatives to new revenue. He said the community needed to determine what it wanted, how much it would cost, and how it would be funded. He did not think the public would accept new fees as a way to pay for the system and it was necessary to educate people about what would be lost if tax reform was not accomplished. He said the County Road Fund was already budgeted by the County, without an opportunity for the City to participate. He said he supported Ms. Nathanson's suggestion that the County Board of Commissioners be involved in resolving the City's transportation funding problems. Mr. Kelly asked how much in additional funding would be realized with the TMA designation. Mr. Corey said the current allocation could be doubled. He said the formula for distribution by the MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 28, 2003 Page 10 Work Session