CC Minutes - 07/22/02 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Bettman said she did not support the proposed ordinance as it was currently worded. She said it would be a tax that would be implemented inequitably. She raised concern over large companies being exempted by having bus passes for their employees when they could not demonstrate that the passes were being used. She added that there were a large number of entities from outside city limits that would not have to pay but still used the City's roads, which would leave the burden entirely on Eugene residents. She suggested an additional change to Section 7.760 that would also preclude funds from being used for any projects that qualified for systems development charges or assessments. Councilor Pap8 confirmed with the City Attorney that the fee would not be perceived as a property tax. Councilor Taylor said the ordinance was a regressive tax that would hurt many people who could not afford to pay it. She expressed her surprise that the council would be considering the ordinance at all. She said it would be impossible to make the tax equitable and suggested a County gas tax and a motor vehicle registration fee. She said the tax needed to be countywide to be more equitable since many people from outside the City used its roads. Councilor Rayor said he would write several proposed amendments to the ordinance in Section 7.750 of the ordinance. He said that anything that seemed like employee costs versus construction was an issue with him because of the high cost of public employees. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding who would not be paying the gas tax, City Manager Carlson said it would be anyone who purchased gas outside Eugene and then used City streets. He confirmed that there would be city street users who would not be paying a City gas tax if it were implemented. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding whether a gas tax would disproportionately favor business over residential users, City Manager Carlson said commercial users would pay much less in gas tax than they would in transportation system maintenance fees because they would not pay the gas tax for most of the trips their business generate, but only on their own gas purchases for company vehicles. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding whether an average driver would see less vehicle operating costs per year if the ordinance were approved, Mr. Corey said no one would see an overnight decrease in vehicle operating costs. He stressed that the success of a street maintenance program was measured by results and not by the funding process. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved to direct the City Manager to add a clause in the ordinance, under Section 7.60, at the end of the last sentence: ':.. or any costs that qualify for systems development charges or assessments." City Manager Carlson clarified that there had been a reimbursement component of the transportation SDC that was specifically being used for preservation activities. He noted that all preservation projects were eligible for reimbursement SDCs and suggested excluding reimbursement SDCs from this provision and limiting only the use of improvement SDCs and assessments. MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 22, 2002 Page 8 Regular Meeting