Agenda Packet 2-13-19 Work Session

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February 13, 2019, Work Session – Item 1 EUGENE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Work Session: Community Safety Revenue Team Update Meeting Date: February 13, 2019 Agenda Item Number: 1 Department: Central Services Staff Contact: Kristie Hammitt www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5524 ISSUE STATEMENT The purpose of this work session is to provide the City Council with an update on the progress of the Community Safety Initiative and the Revenue Team. BACKGROUND At the September 26, 2018, work session on Community Safety, staff provided an update on Community Safety funding options, community outreach efforts, and results of an online survey. The presentation included strategies and funding packages to address community safety system gaps and desired outcomes identified by the council. The City Council unanimously passed a motion to include $8.6 million in Supplemental Budget #1. This one-time, 18-month bridge funding strategy supports prevention efforts and services for youth and people experiencing homelessness as well as police and emergency response services. The funding includes expanding prevention programs that help move at-risk youth and chronic offenders toward stable lives and away from the jail and the courtroom, and adding police officers, 911 dispatchers and jail beds. Council also gave direction to immediately begin work on long-term funding strategies to address critical community safety needs based on the identified strategies. A Community Safety Revenue Team was formed to develop a recommendation for the City Manager. The Revenue Team includes Councilors Pryor, Semple, and Yeh, current and former Budget Committee Members Scott Nowicki, Eliza Kashinsky, John Barofsky, and Laura Illig as well as Bill Whalen from the Police Commission. The team began meeting in November 2018 and has been working to develop funding options to fund Community Safety strategies of $22 million on an on-going basis. The Revenue Team began with a high level overview of Community Safety System needs and funding strategies as well as information from a July 2018 Manross Survey related to voter awareness and support for the Community Safety Initiative. The Team reviewed 25 funding options summarized in the 2014 Revenue Team report. The Team also received an update on property tax compression issues and discussed criteria to evaluate funding options related to yield, sustainability, Triple Bottom Line, administrative effort, nexus with community safety, fairness and feasibility to begin narrowing the field. Next, the team used the criteria to discuss nine higher-yield revenue options before asking for more specific information on three options, including Payroll Tax, Public Safety Fee, and Utility Consumption Tax.