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<br /> <br />MINUTES – Eugene City Council Workshop February 23, 2019 Page 4 <br /> <br /> <br />Employee Fixed/Employer Variable <br />• Councilor Clark – asked if the number of small-scale employers was considered; expressed concern about those who can do business elsewhere will relocate to avoid the tax. <br />• Councilor Syrett – asked if minimum wage increase were factored in. <br />Variable Rates – Employee/Employer <br />• Jon Ruiz – asked council for feedback on the concepts to help with further analysis. <br />• Councilor Semple – supported an equal rate. <br />• Councilor Yeh – supported an equal rate, noting the idea that the rate would be fixed after FY26. <br />• Councilor Zelenka – said that “fair and equitable” should be the priority; list of tradeoffs would be helpful. <br />• Councilor Clark – supported an equal rate, noting that this council can’t bind future councils to the decision. <br />• Councilor Syrett – said she leans toward an equal rate but would be open to modulation for minimum wage earners. <br />• Mayor Vinis – supported a fixed rate with a maximum amount of .29 percent. <br />• Councilor Semple – clarified the impact of the tax on a person making $12 per hour. <br />• Councilor Zelenka – requested additional modeling on the impacts on non-profits. <br />Considerations <br />• Councilor Clark – supported council referral of the tax proposal rather than passage by ordinance. <br />• Councilor Pryor – acknowledged that there would be opposition to any proposal but the council should exercise its authority to make the decision. <br />• Councilor Taylor – expressed concern that a lot time and resources have already been spent on this initiative. <br />• Councilor Syrett – said she was leaning toward an ordinance; requested information on the cost and process for a council or citizen referral. <br />• Councilor Clark – said the council shouldn’t limit its options; the success of the road bonds is a good example of making the case to the public for the need and mechanism. <br />• Mayor Vinis – noted that one benefit of the gap funding is to demonstrate to the public the value of additional public safety dollars. <br />• Councilor Pryor – pointed to the unique situation the council faced in attempting to address an issue with such public safety serious implications. <br />• Councilor Semple – agreed that the community is facing a public safety crisis; said the council is elected to make difficult decisions; this is a livability issue that affects everyone. <br />• Councilor Zelenka – said that if the council believes in the value of the proposal, its importance should be easily conveyed to the voters. <br />• Councilor Semple – asked if there was a strategy for addressing the additional gap that would occur in implementation if the tax proposal is referred to the voters. <br />3. Communications Community Relations Manager Laura Hammond provided an overview of current communications programs and introduced the concept of a Community Survey. Discussion <br />• Councilor Clark - encouraged exploration of other types of analytics for measuring success and appeal of outreach efforts, which are often more reliable than surveys; provided the example of indexing and hash-tagging agenda materials for greater transparency and historical context. <br />April 8, 2019, Meeting – Item 2A