CC Minutes - 12/01/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing and called for a five-minute recess. Mayor Torrey called the meeting back to order at 9:02 p.m. Councilor Meisner clarified that the stormwater fund fee increase had been repealed, but some stream corridor acquisitions were continuing. Councilor Meisner called the cattery a %ignificant question." He averred that the questions asked by the last person testifying at the public hearing should receive a response. For the questioner, he noted that not only did the City contribute as a municipal government toward the support of LCARA, but City residents accounted for 40 percent of both the appraised value of Lane County and 40 percent of its population, therefore 40 percent of the General Fund of Lane County came from City residents. He felt the expectation that the County would provide services was reasonable, adding that Lane County was the only county in the State that did not shoulder the entire responsibility for its animal control agency. He said the building of the cattery did not necessarily make it a City function. He noted, as an example, that the County had built a juvenile facility and, should there not be funding for its operation, the responsibility for operation would not have fall to the City. Councilor Nathanson commented that there were numbers in the public testimony that, out of context, looked large. She asserted that much of the money had to do with reconciling ending fund balances and a lot of the funds in question were dedicated to be used for certain purposes. Regarding the comment that the City needed to %tep up and take responsibility," she said the City was paying for a lot of services. Some of the services were paid for with County funds with the City of Eugene paying additional money and the other smaller cities of the area paying sometimes or not at all. She felt the analysis was more complex as to what jurisdictions were paying for which services. Councilor Nathanson agreed that more information was needed regarding the animal regulation services. She supported determining the most cost-effective way to fund and administer those services. Councilor Kelly opined that a better way of addressing one-time needs would be to meet them as they were being discussed. He said that staff had recommended waiting until the supplemental budget proceedings, but the one-time needs seemed somewhat out of context at the present proceedings. He reminded the council that the during a meeting in November the FY03 purchase orders that had been outstanding had been reconciled, transferring $372,000 into the reserve for revenue shortfall. He stated that the supplemen- tal budget would transfer another $1.2 million into the reserve for revenue shortfall. While he considered this to be good, prudent fiscal management, he felt that should another one-time need arise between the current proceedings and June, it would be wise to pull a portion of that amount back to cover such a shortfall. Councilor Kelly commented that the telecommunication funds did not have the visibility at the council level that they needed. He acknowledged that this was due, in part, to one outstanding lawsuit. He requested the discussion to be brought before the council after the last suit was resolved. Councilor Pap~ asked what sort of support other cities in Lane County provided for LCARA. Finance and Courts Services Executive Manager Cindi Hamm responded that there was limited support from other cities. She noted that the City of Springfield had a case-by-case shelter contract. MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 1, 2003 Page 11 Regular Meeting